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FOLLOWING THE PIONEERS
FOLLOWING THE PIONEERS
A STORY OF
AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSION WORK IN INDIA AND BURMA
Byy JOSEPH C. ROBBINS
Foreign Secretary of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society
PHILADELPHIA
THE JUDSON PRESS
BOSTON CHICAGO ST. LOUIS LOS ANGELFS
KANSAS CITY SEATTLE TORONTO
Copyright, 1922, by GILBERT N. BRINK, Secretary
Published October, 1922
Printed in U. S. A.
TO THE
MISSIONARIES OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE
IN FAITH, COURAGE, AND DEVOTION WORTHY SUCCESSORS OF CAREY AND JUDSON PIONEER MISSIONARIES OF BURMA AND INDIA
FOREWORD
'• There's a legion that never was listed, That carries no colors nor crest, But, split in a thousand detachments. Is breaking the road for the rest."
The unlisted legion of Christian missionaries and their followers in India have left a trail of light along which the mighty highways of a Christian civilization are being built. Their imperishable records are written in the transformed lives of India's people.
India, the cradle of the human family, is a land of origins, of great race movements, of pagan faiths, and of missionary triumphs. It is a veritable wonderland of human interest. In the recital of history's record, noth- ing stands out more luminously than the long disclosure of God himself in the lives of his missionary messengers. India records the victories of Christian faith as does no other land. " Following the Pioneers " gives us a great amoimt of interesting and necessary information about India today. The book is written in terms of that same faith and optimism which actuated the pioneers.
" Following the Pioneers '' satisfies our hunger for facts about the enheartening achievements of recent Chris- tian movements in India. The book will be found of great value to Baptist teachers and leaders of mission
Foreword
study groups for the reading and study courses on India, and it is so recommended by the Department of Mission- ary Education, at whose urgent request Doctor Robbins has prepared the manuscript. We are greatly indebted to the author for this latest accession to our important literature on India.
William A. Hill,
Secretary of Missionary Education.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
A FEW days before we sailed from Burma for America in April, 1922, I received the following message from our Department of Missionary Education :
Prepare quickly manuscript education book Society's mission work in India for publication on arrival. Telegraph definite reply at once as announcement in regard to book must be made imme- diately.
This book was, therefore, written on shipboard, and was made possible through the generous and efficient coopera- tion and assistance of my missionary fellow passenger, Rev. C. E. Chaney, of Burma. Mr. Chaney typed the entire manuscript and supplied much of the material for chap- ters two and three on our Burmese and Karen missions. I have drawn freely in the following pages from letters and reports of our missionaries who have always been such a continual help and inspiration to me in every way in my two visits to India and Burma.
In this book, I have written of the work of the Amer- ican Baptist Foreign Mission Society in British India. I am not unmindful, however, of the large and important work being done by the missionaries and missionary so- cieties of the Protestant churches of Great Britain, the United States, and Canada in India, Burma, and Assam.
Author's Preface
In Burma American Methodists, British Episcopalians, and Wesleyans and in India practically all the great Prot- estant communions are cooperating in the extension of the kingdom of God.
The richest experiences of my two trips to Burma and India have been the close and intimate relationship and helpful fellowship that Mrs. Robbins and myself have en- joyed with our missionaries in these lands. The mission- ary body rep.resents all that is most worthy and most noble and most Christian in our civilization. I doubt if there is another group of people in the whole world more devoted, more unselfish, more earnest under great overburdening tasks than the missionaries of the church of the living God.
My one hope in writing this book is that the Indian Empire and mission work in India and Burma may have its full and rightful share of our intelligent in- terest, practical help, and daily prayer so that India, once described by Lord Beaconsfield as " the brightest jewel in the British crown," may, in the coming years, unite with all the world in acclaiming Jesus Christ as the King of kings and in crowning him Lord of all.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Interesting India 1
II. Burma : Pioneering in Faith 23
III. The Karens of Burma : Triumphant Chris-
tianity 47
IV. Burma : To All Peoples 69
V. South India : The Gospel and Social Up
lift 91
VI. Bengal-Orissa : The Verdun of Hinduism 119
VII. Assam : The Future Bright with Hope . . 137
Bibliography 161
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Temple of Juggernaut, at Puri, India. . .Frontispiece
Basket-ball Game, Judson College, Rangoon, Burma 4
Taj Mahal, at Agra, India 4
Hindus Bathing in the Ganges, India 10
William Carey, Baptist Pioneer in India 20
Adoniram Judson, Baptist Pioneer in Burma 26
Kemendine Girls' School, Rangoon, Burma. 42
Dr. Ma Sazv Sa, Superintendent of Dufferin Hospital,
Rangoon, Burma 48
Morton Lane Girls' School, Moulmein, Burma 54
Ko TJia Byu Memorial Building, Bassein, Burma ... 54
Choir of Sgaw Karen High School, Bassein, Burma. .64
Karen Preachers at Sgazv Karen Association, Bas- sein, Burma 64
Crossing the River Sahueen on the Way to the Lahu
Association at Mong Lem, China 72
Breaking Camp on the Way to the Lahu Association,
Mong Lem, China 84
Prayer-meeting Hill, Ongolc, India (two views) .... 96
Engine-shed and Freight-houses, Kharagpur, Bengal-
Orissa 100
List of Illustrations
Crowd on Bank at Baptism, Kavali, India 100
The Gospel and the Plozv, Coles Vocational School,
Kurnool^ India 100
Doctor Kirhy's Assistant Treating a Leper, Jorhat,
Assam 108
Ward in the Nellore Hospital, Nellore, India 108
Staif of Union Medical College, Vellore, India 112
Girls' Training-school Graduates^ Nozvgong, Assam 112
Girl Scouts, Nellore High ScJiool 116
Mealtime at Sinclair Orphanage^ Balasore, Bengal-
Orissa 120
Blacksmith Shop, Balasore Industrial School 128
Hindu Goddess Kali, Midnapore, Bengal-Orissa. . . . 128
Tata Iron Works from a Distance, lamshedpur, Ben- gal-Orissa 132
Rev. O. L. Swanson Preaching from a Motor-car,
Golaghat, Assam 132
Dr. Y. Nandamah, South India 140
Native Sazvmill, India 148
Doctor and Mrs. Witter and Students, Ga^ihati,
Assam 148
Khanto Beta Rai, Midnapore, Bengal-Orissa 156
INTERESTING INDIA
He is crude with the strength of the seeker of toil ; From the hot, barren wastes he is gathering spoil For a nation that lives from the bounty he gives — He's the Builder, the Winner of Ways.
Where the silent wastes bake in the summer's hot glow. Where the forests are choked in the shroud of the snow, By his brain and his brawn a new nation is born — He goes forth to conquer new realms.
And the world has its heroes of lace and gold braid, That are honored and wined for the waste they have made ; But the world little knows of the debt that it owes To the Hewer, the Blazer of Trails.
— Rudyard Kipling.
INTERESTING INDIA
India is the most interesting country in the world. The subcontinent Empire of India, including Burma, with its population of 319,000,000, one-fifth of the inhabitants of the world, is undergoing stupendous changes. It is a new India. Everywhere there is evidence of an intense na- tionalism, which in some places approaches revolution. The future of this mighty Empire is of compelling in- terest and is one of the major problems of world politics. It is a question which will demand the highest wis- dom and largest statesmanship. The very magnitude of the country and the central position which it will of necessity hold in the future, make the question of India one of supreme international importance in the develop- ment of the brotherhood of nations, world peace, and the advancement of the kingdom of God. One of India's Nationalistic leaders has stated the case of India's future as follows:
To an Indian the problem of India is national ; with a Britisher it is imperial; but to humanity it is international. India is such a huge slicfe of the earth, and contains such an immense popula- tion, than no person interested in world affairs can ignore its importance. Historically, it is the pivot of the Orient. Religiously, it occupies a wholly unique place in Asia because it is the home of Hinduism, the birthplace of Buddhism, the most important field of Islamic activity. It is the center of Asiatic culture ; China and Japan bow to it in reverence, while central Asia and western Mohammedan countries look to it for support and sympathy. Its human potentialities of all kinds are very great. Commercially too, it is strategic for nearly half the globe. It is the key to the
3
Following the Pioneers
Indian Ocean and the clearing-house of the larger part of the trade of the Orient. Its natural resources are so enormous as to defy the imagination. This is the reason why militarism and imperialism have always looked upon it with eyes of greed and glory. This is why India has inspired Alexanders, Tamerlanes, Wellesleys, czars, and kaisers with visions of world empire.
The vastness of India, the varied extent of her lands, the striking differences of her people, make the problem of India most complex and baffling. Practically every stage of racial development and civilization, from the rude, naked savage and head-hunting, wild hill-tribes to the most advanced civilization and culture, is here repre- sented. According to Lord Curzon, " Powerful empires existed and flourished in India while Englishmen were still wandering in the woods of Europe." From the sun- baked plains of South India to the snow-capped Hima- layas India has every variety of climate and fauna. One hundred forty-seven languages are spoken in India, twenty-three of which are used by a million or more people. Forty-five million speak Bengali, and sixty mil- lion Hindustani. These provinces, mighty nations in themselves, are as different from one another as Japan and China. In addition to the Provinces in this vast Empire directly under the British Rajah, there are 700 feudatory states ruled over by native Princes. Two hun- dred of these states are of major importance with millions of people. The State of Hyderabad, with a population of 13,000,000, is as large as Italy. This state is ruled over by His Royal Highness, the Nizam, a Mohammedan Prince. India is a land of striking contrasts, from the poor mud huts of the millions of outcastes in South India to the Taj Mahal, acclaimed the most beautiful building in the world : The Taj was erected by the Mogul Emperor, Shah Jehan, as a tomb and memorial to his wife, and
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Interesting India
fully justifies the praise of the Moguls as builders, " They designed like Titans and finished like jewelers." This building has been more abundantly described than any other building in the world. One readily agrees with the writer who said : *' It can only be described as a dream in marble," and we repeat with approval the words of the old soldier chief, Lord Roberts, " Neither words nor pencil could give to the most imaginative reader the slightest idea of the all-satisfying beauty and purity of this glorious conception." To see the Taj Alahal is well worth a journey to India.
The wonder and interest of India led Mark Twain to write in '* Following the Equator " :
This is India, the land of dreams and of romance, of fabulous wealth, of fabulous poverty, of splendor and of rags, of palaces and hovels, of tigers and elephants. Cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech ; mother of religion ; grandmother of history; great-grandmother of tradition. The land of a hundred nations and of a hundred tongues ; of a thousand religions and of three million gods, and she worships them all. All other countries in religion are paupers ; India is the only millionaire. The one sole land under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable in- terest for all men ; rich and poor, bond and free ; alien prince and alien peasant; all men want to see India, and having seen it once even by a glimpse, would not give up that glimpse for all the rest of the shows of the earth combined.
Modern industry is entering India, and there are great factories in Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay. There is a new industrial movement, and in the adjustment from the small village life and handworkers to the great cities and factories there is that incessant beat of life upon life with its accompaniment of new desires, ambitions, and deep dissatisfaction at the inequality, injustice, and misery of existing conditions. The artisans and laboring class are coming to realize that they are a power in the land.
Following the Pioneers
and there have been as many as two hundred labor strikes in India in a single year. At one time in Bombay the postal and telegraph men, the gas workers, and street-car employees were all on strike.
One of the features of the New India is the part played by the women of the land. Hitherto the interest of the Indian woman was confined to her home, her husband, and her children. Now a great number have begun to discard the purdah and take an active interest in the larger affairs of the land. Organizations of women are springing up all over the country. There are the Indian Woman's Suffrage Association and the All-India MusHm Woman's Association, and a Woman's Conference meets annually now in connection with the India National So- cial Congress. Delegates from India were sent in 1920 to the International Woman's Suffrage Alliance in Geneva. Woman's suffrage is being most seriously dis- cussed, and the Assemblies of Bombay and Madras have recently voted to extend the franchise to women. As the franchise is based on property qualifications, and as women in South India rarely hold property under the joint family system, the number of women actually en- franchised will be relatively small. This vote, however, was a real victory for the womanhood of India. The Madras decision was preceded by a vigorous agitation carried on by the Indian Women's Association in organ- izing meetings and deputations.
The history of women's war work in India cannot be told in a few words. Suflice it to say that it was the women of India who were ready and able to supply the vast supplementary needs of the army sent to Meso- potamia in 1914. From that moment the women of India came into their own, and there has been no look- ing back. The chairman of the big body of women work-
Interesting India
ers in Bombay — the Women's Council — is a Moham- medan woman; the children's welfare work has as its chairman a Par see woman, with Indian women and men as a majority on the committee.
Lord Peel, Secretary of State for India, in speaking of the new constitution proposed for Burma, at a dinner in London said :
The new constitution is extraordinarily interesting, especially as regards the position of women. It is remarkable, when one re- members the tactics that were adopted by the women suffragists here, that the women in Burma should have the vote, but in Burma, both by their status and their command over the other sex, it seems perfectly natural that at the outset women should have the franchise, whereas in the neighboring peninsula of India, the decision was left to the Council. Another remarkable thing is that practically household suffrage is being established in Burma, and it is noteworthy that at a bound, as it were, Burma should be ready for so advanced a legislative system.
There will be no sex disqualification in the new constitu- tion which Burma will receive at the beginning of 1923. There is also intellectual unrest. Here, it is the old story of the old skins unable to hold the new wine. Education, easy transportation, rapid communication, periodicals, newspapers, books — all this mental yeast must result in intellectual ferment. There are more than one thousand newspapers in India, and seven hundred books are published annually in the native languages. Ever since the days of Dufif and Macaulay, when English be- came the language of the schools and colleges of India, it came about that India began to read Milton and Burke, Mill and Spencer, and thus to become, in Lord Morley's glowing words, " intoxicated with the ideas of freedom, nationality, self-government, that breathe the breath of life in these inspiring and illuminating pages."
8 Following the Pioneers
India has felt the heart-throb of the great nationaHstic movements of the earth. The growth of Asiatic con- sciousness, the victory of Japan over Russia, democracy in the PhiHppine Islands, have not escaped unnoticed. Their effect has been profoundly intensified by the reac- tion of the war, to which India contributed over one mil- lion of her sons, so that the spirit of nationality and democracy has seeped through the consciousness of India and found expression in practically every gathering of her people.
British administration of India is one of the marvels of modern government. The British Empire has given India unbroken peace, efficient administration, good roads, railroads, the telegraph, telephone, post-office, hospitals and dispensaries, a school system leading through the lower schools up to the university, and justice with courts of law based on our Western legal system.
In 1858, the statesmanship of the new order in India was revealed in Queen Victoria's proclamation, under which India was taken away forever from the control of the old East India Company, which had first entered India two hundred and fifty years before, and India at that time became a part of the British Empire. One writer has thus described this event :
Rajas, whose breasts blazed with diamonds, riding on elephants festooned with pearls came through the streets of the ancient city of Allahabad to hear the words of the Great White Queen-Mother from across " the black water." The Indians came from many- cities to where the Jumna flows past Allahabad to join Mother Ganges. There, in the great plain, half-way between Delhi and Calcutta, the old and the new capitals of India, Lord Channing read out these words from Queen Victoria, which are part of the Magna Carta of India :
" We shall respect the rights, dignity, and honor of native princes as our own; and we desire that they, as well as our
Interesting India
own subjects, should enjoy that prosperity and that social advance- ment which can only be secured by internal peace and good govern- ment.
" We hold ourselves bound to the natives of our Indian terri- tories by the same obligations and duty which bind us to all our other subjects, and those obligations, by the blessing of Almighty God, we shall faithfully and conscientiously fulfil.
" Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude the solace of religion, we disclaim alike the right and the desire to impose our convictions on any of our subjects. . .
" And it is our further will that, so far as may be, our sub- jects, of whatever race or creed, be freely and impartially admitted to offices in our service, the duties of which they may be quali- fied by their education, ability, and integrity duly to discharge."
The proclamation then makes the following tremendous prom- ises, and lays down once and for all the great principle that forms the basis of the British raj in India :
" When, by the blessing of Providence, internal tranquillity shall be restored, it is our earnest desire to stimulate the peaceful in- dustry of India, to promote works of public utility and improve- ment, and to administer the government for the benefit of all our subjects resident therein. In their prosperity will be our strength, in their contentment our security, and in their gratitude our best reward. And may the God of all power grant to us, and to those in authority under us, strength to carry out these wishes for the good of our people."
On August 20, 1917, the Secretary of State for India made the following announcement in the House of Commons :
The policy of His Majesty's Government, with which the Gov- ernment of India is in complete accord, is that of the increasing association of Indians in every branch of the administration, and the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire.
In harmony with this proposal Mr. Montagu, then Sec- retary of State for India, visited India in the winter of
10 Following the Pioneers
1917-18, and after a most careful and exhaustive study of the situation in conjunction with Lord Chelmsford, then Viceroy of India, presented the Report on Indian Con- stitutional Reforms.
A bill embodying the main recommendations of the Montagu-Chelmsford report passed both houses of Par- liament without opposition. This bill, affecting as it does nearly one-fifth of the human race, is perhaps one of the most fateful enactments that Parliament has passed. It gives to the Indian people at the outset an active part in the administration of the government, especially in pro- vincial government. It divides the government in each Province into two sections; on the one hand, the gov- ernor with his official colleagues in executive council, and on the other, the governor with ministers drawn from the provincial legislative assemblies. To the former will be reserved the administration of the more fundamental duties of the state, such as the maintenance of law and order, the administration of the universities, industries, land revenue, forests, and irrigation. To the other sec- tion will be transferred the remaining duties, such as con- trol of local bodies, primary education, sanitation, agri- culture, excise, roads, and bridges.
After ten years' trial a parliamentary commission will visit India to study and report on the success of these steps in self-government. If the report is favorable, further subjects will be transferred to the Indian minis- ters. And so the process will go on until responsible government is fully established and the transitional sys- tem of dualism is superseded by unified popular adminis- tration. The act further provides for a two-chamber sys- tem of legislature at Delhi and provides for a larger number of Indian members on the Viceroy's executive council.
Interesting India 11
The new representative government that is to lead India onward toward complete self-government as an equal partner in the British Commonwealth of Nations was inaugurated on February 9, 1921, at Delhi, the capital of the Empire. To bring home to every Indian the full significance of the occasion, the King Emperor in his royal message said :
For years — it may be for generations — patriotic and loyal In- dians have dreamed of swaraj for their motherland. Today you have the beginnings of swaraj within my Empire, and the widest scope and ample opportunity for progress to the liberty which my other dominions enjoy.
It is generally agreed that both the Provincial Coun- cils and the Imperial Legislative Assembly at Delhi have shown a sense of responsibility and a statesmanlike grasp of public questions, ofttimes in the face of grave dif- ficulties, which have been a surprise and gratification to their friends. Their earnest and conscientious work has received commendation from the Viceroy and the Secretary of State for India.
Indian ministers have charge of important portfolios, and an Indian, Lord Sinha of Raipar, has served as governor of one of the great Provinces of India, and an Indian, Lord Sastri, was one of the representatives of the British Empire at the Conference on Limitation of Arma- ments at Washington.
India is today in poHtical ferment. Of the main polit- ical groups there is, first, the great illiterate and inarticu- late mass who know very little about India's political problems and care less. This group is gradually being permeated with the spirit of restlessness, and is easily aroused by the political agitator. Secondly, there are the Moderates, now in the minority, who favor accepting
12 Following the Pioneers
the Reform Scheme as passed by the British ParHament, and are cooperating with the Government in the National and Provincial Constitutional Assemblies. As the ex- tremists refuse to stand for election, the Moderates are now in office. They recognize both the difficulty and the danger in moving faster toward complete independence than internal conditions warrant. They aim to achieve ultimate self-government for India as an integral part of the British Empire. Before this can be accomplished they realize that India must have a larger measure of education and improvement in social and economic con- ditions. They acknowledge that Great Britain's pres- ence and help are still needed. The third group is the Radicals, which includes most of the present-day Hindu and Mohammedan leaders. They are not satisfied with the new reform plan and demand immediate and com- plete political independence. They refused to run for election for the Assemblies or to vote in the elections, or to accept any office under the Government. They refuse to cooperate in any way with the Government. The Radicals have been led the past few years by a very remarkable man, Mr. IMohandas K. Gandhi. Mr. Valen- tine Chirol, in his recent book, " India New and Old," writes as follows of Mr. Gandhi :
Saint and prophet in the eyes of the multitude of his followers, saint in the eyes of many who have not accepted him as a prophet, Mr. Gandhi preaches today under the name of " Non-cooperation " a gospel of revolt. Mr. Gandhi challenges not only the material but the moral foundations of British rule. He has passed judg- ment both on British rule and Western civilization, and condemn- ing both as " Satanic," his cry is away with the one and with the other, and " Back to the Vedas," the fountain-source of ancient Hinduism. That he is a power in the land none can deny, least of all since the new Viceroy, Lord Reading, almost immediately on his arrival in India spent long hours in close conference with
Interesting India 13
him. Born in. 1869, in Gugarat District in the north of Bombay Presidency, Gandhi comes of very respectable Hindu parentage, but does not belong to one of the higher castes. He himself was brought up for the bar, and after receiving the usual education in India, completed his studies in England. His mother, whose religious example and influence made a lasting impression upon his char- acter, held the most orthodox Hindu views and only agreed to his crossing " the Black water " to England after exacting from him a threefold vow, which he faithfully kept, of abstinence from flesh and alcohol and women. He returned to India as soon as he had been called to the bar, and began practise as an Advocate before the Bombay High Court. In 1893 he was called to South Africa with an Indian legal case, and gave himself for many years for the rights of his countrymen in South Africa. Mr. Gandhi returned to India just after the outbreak of the Great War, and the Government of India marked its appreciation of the great ser- vices he had rendered to his countrymen in South Africa by recommending him for the Kaisar-i-Hind gold medal, which was conferred upon him among the New Year's honors of 1915. The doctrine which he holds of all others to be the corner-stone of his religion is that of the Ahimsa^ which, as he has described it, " requires deliberate self-suffering, not the deliberate injuring of the wrong-doer in the resistance of evil."
To the great mass of the people of India, Mr. Gandhi is a prophet and a hero, and while some parts of his pohtical and economic program seemed most impractical, his moral and physical courage, his purity of life, his honesty of purpose, and his devotion to India are univer- sally recognized by all who have met him pe-rsonally or who have made a careful and unbiased study of his writings and speeches.
Non-cooperation under Mr. Gandhi's leadership had a most remarkable hold on all classes of people. I was in India, November 17, 1921, when the Prince of Wales landed in Bombay. Mr. Gandhi had proclaimed a hartal, a day of public mourning, in which all business should
^ The Hindu doctrine of the sinfulness of taking life.
14 Following the Pioneers
cease, making it practically a nation-wide strike. There was rioting and bloodshed at Bombay, and a remarkable strike was proclaimed in the great city of Calcutta and many of the larger towns. In Calcutta the success of the non-cooperation movement was most extraordinary. No street-cars were in operation during the day, no taxis or public conveyances of any kind were available, no cart- men or coolies for transporting baggage. The markets and shops were all closed, and even the servants in private houses were affected by the strike and refused to work on that day. Calcutta is a city of 1,700,000. When I was there just a week before, the traffic was so con- gested with automobiles, carriages, and bullock-carts that our taxi was held up fifteen minutes in a traffic jam. On the seventeenth there was not a cart, street-car, or automobile on the street. Two days after the Bombay riots Mr. Gandhi, who preaches passive resistance and non-violence, issued the following appeal :
It is not possible to describe the agony I have suffered during the past two days. I am writing this now at 3.30 a. m. at perfect peace. After two hours' prayer and meditation I have found it. I must refuse to eat or drink anything but water till the Hindus and Mohammedans of Bombay have made peace with the Parsees, Christians, and Jews, and till non-cooperators have made peace with the cooperators. The szvaraj^ which I have witnessed in the last two days has stunk in my nostrils. The non-violence of the non-cooperators has been more than the violence of the coop- erators, for with non-violence on our lips we have terrorized those who have differed from us, and in so doing we have denied our God. There is only one God for us all, whether we find him through the Koran, the Bible, the Zendavesta, the Talmud, or the Geeta, and he is the God of Truth and Love. I cannot hate an Englishman or any one else, I have spoken and written much against his institutions, especially the one he has set up in India. I shall continue to do so if I live. But we must not mistake my
2 Self-government.
Interesting India 15
condemnation of the system for the man. My rehgion requires me to love him as I love myself. I would deny God if I did not attempt to prove it at this critical moment.
Mr. Gandhi was arrested on March 9, 1922, and pleaded guilty to the charge of sedition. The following quota- tions from his speech when sentenced by the judge to six years' imprisonment and the remarks of the judge at that time will give the reader a glimpse into the character of this remarkable man who has made such a tremendous impression upon the Ufe of India. He had written out what he wished to say, but first made this oral statement :
Before I read what I have written, I would like to say that I entirely endorse the learned Advocate General's remarks in con- nection with my humble self. I think he was entirely fair to me in the statements he has made, because it is very true, and I have no desire to conceal from this court the fact that to preach dis- affection toward the existing system of government has become almost a passion with me. And the learned Advocate General is entirely in the right when he says that my preaching of dis- affection did not commence with my connection with Young India, but that it commenced much earlier, and in the statement that I am about to read it will be my painful duty to admit before this court that it commenced much earlier than the period stated by the Advocate General. It is a most painful duty with me, but I have to discharge that duty, knowing the responsibility that rested upon my shoulders.
And I wish to endorse all the blame that the Advocate General has thrown on my shoulders in connection with the Bombay occurrence, the Madras occurrences, and Chauri Chaura occur- rences. Thinking over things deeply, and sleeping over them night after night, and examining my heart, I have come to the con- clusion that it is impossible for me to dissociate myself from the diabolical crimes of Chauri Chaura, or the mad outrages of Bombay.
He is quite right when he says that as a man of responsibility, a man having received a fair share of education, having had a fair share of experience of this world, I should know the con- sequences of every one of my acts. I knew them. I knew that
16 Following the Pioneers
I was playing with fire. I ran the risk, and if I were set free would still do the same. I would be failing in my duty if I did not do so.
I have felt this morning that I would be failing in my duty if I did not say all what I said here just now. I wanted to avoid violence. Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is the last article of my faith. But I had to make my choice. I had either to submit to a system which I consider has done an irreparable harm to my country, or incur the risk of the mad fury of my people bursting forth when they understood the truth from my lips. I know that my people have sometimes gone mad. I am deeply sorry for it. And I am here to submit, not to a light penalty, but to the highest penalty. I do not ask for mercy. I do not plead any extenuating act. I am here, therefore, to invite and submit to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen.
The only course open to you, Mr. Judge, is, as I am just going to say in my statement, either to resign your post or to inflict on me the severest penalty. If you believe that the system and law you are assisting to administer are good for the people, I do not expect that kind of conversion. But by the time I have finished with my statement, you will perhaps have a glimpse of what is raging within my breast to run this maddest risk which a sane man can run.
He concludes his written statement as follows :
In fact, I believe that I have rendered a service to India and England by showing in non-cooperation the way out of the un- natural state in which both are living. In my humble opinion non- cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good. But in the past non-cooperation has been deliberately expressed in violence to the evil-doer. I am endeavoring to show to my countrymen that violent non-cooperation only multiplies evil, and that as evil can only be sustained by violence, withdrawal of support of evil requires complete abstention from violence. Non-violence implies voluntary submission to the penalty for non- cooperation with evil.
I am here, therefore, to invite and submit cheerfully to the highest penalty than can be inflicted upon me for what in law is
Interesting India 17
a deliberate crime and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen. The only course open to you, the judge and the assessors, is either to resign your posts and thus dissociate your- selves from evil, if you feel that the law you are called upon to administer is an evil, and that in reality I am innocent, or to in- flict on me the severest penalty if you believe that the system and the law you are assisting to administer are good for the people of this country and that my activity therefore is injurious to the public weal.
The presiding judge then pronounced the following judgment and sentence :
Mr. Gandhi, y^u have made my task easy in one way by pleading guilty to the charge. Nevertheless, what remains, namely, the determination of a just sentence, is perhaps as difficult a proposi- tion as a judge in this country could have to face. The law is no respecter of persons. Nevertheless, it will be impossible to ignore the fact that you are in a different category from any person I have ever tried cr am likely to have to try. It would be im- possible to ignore the fact that in the eyes of millions of your countrymen you are a great patriot and a great leader. Ever. those who differ from you in politics look upon you as a man of high ideals and of noble and even saintly life.
I have to deal with you in one character only. It is not my duty, and I do not presume, to judge or criticise you in any other character. It is my duty to judge you as a man subject to the law who has on his own admission broken the law and committed what to an ordinary man must appear to be grave offenses against the state. I do not forget that you have consistently preached against violence and that you have on many occasions, as I am willing to believe, done much to prevent violence. But having regard to the nature of political teaching and the nature of many of those to whom it was addressed, how you could have continued to believe that violence would not be the inevitable consequence, it passes my capacity to understand.
There are probably few people in India who do not sincerely regret that you should l:ave made it impossible for any Govern- ment to leave you at liberty. But it is so. I am trying to balance what is due to you against what appears to me to be necessary in the interest of the public, and I propose in passing the sentence
18 Following the Pioneers
to follow the precedent of a case in many respects similar to this case, that was decided some twelve years ago. I mean the case against Mr. Balgangadhar Tilak under the same section. The sentence that was passed upon him as it finally stood was a sentence of simple imprisonment for six years. You will not consider it unreasonable, I think, that you should be classed with Mr. Tilak. That is a sentence of two years' simple imprisonment on each count of the charge, six years in all, which I feel it my duty to pass on you ; and I should like to say in doing so that if the course of events in India should make it possible for the Government to reduce the period and release you no one will be better pleased than I.
Mr. Gandhi expressed himself as satisfied that the sentence was " as light as any judge would inflict on me, and so far as the whole proceedings are concerned, I must say that I could not have expected greater courtesy."
There is a great temperance and prohibition movement in India. Many of India's thoughtful leaders are opposed to the liquor traffic. The creeds of the three great non- Christian religions of India, Hinduism, Mohammedanism, and Buddhism, are solidly against the liquor traffic. The Buddhists have a young people's temperance league with a monthly publication, and there is a very strong temper- ance sentiment among the peoples of Burma, both Bud- dhist and Christian. The prohibition movement in Amer- ica has deeply interested the people of India, and great companies of people gathered to hear Rev. William E. (Pussyfoot) Johnson when he was in the country on his tour in 1921. The motive power for an aggressive fight- ing of the liquor and drug traffic to a successful finish must come from the missionaries and the constituency of the Indian Christian church.
India, it has been said, is not only a land of romance, art, and beauty, '' it is in religion earth's central shrine." Wherever one travels in India and Burma, he is impressed
Interesting India 19
with the fact that he is in a country where religion holds a preeminent and central place. There are shrines, temples, mosques, pagodas, and Buddhist monasteries in all parts of this wonderful land. It is the home of the three great militant religions of the world, Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and Hinduism. Both Indian and Bur- man society are based on religious principles and dom- inated by religious ideals, ritual, and motive. Many of the social problems of India can be traced to religious causes and conditions. The strength of Hinduism is its social system. It is doubtful if any more durable and powerful social fabric was ever constructed by man than the social system of Hindu India. The history of India records invasion after invasion, but the resisting power of Hinduism has left the people practically unchanged. The immense hold of Hinduism today lies not in its philosophy, but in its social system rooted in certain re- ligious principles and maintained in full vigor even where these principles are little understood or perhaps denied. This is most clearly brought out in the system of caste which holds every one in its iron grip and is wrought into the very warp and woof of the Indian social fabric. As the mist rolled up from the Ganges we saw an Indian walk down to the river bank where the Brahmans were bathing in the saving waters of Mother Ganges. As the bathers come up from the river he paints on their foreheads the trident or some other emblem of their de- votion to Vishnu, Siva, or other god. Each man wears the symbol of that immemorial caste which was adopted to preserve the purity of Aryan blood. In this caste system are four main castes and 2,378 subcastes. All have their lines so rigidly drawn that it is impossible for a man to pass from one social grade to another.
Census figures are just available showing the distribu-
20 Following the Pioneers
tion of the people of India by religions. The outstanding- fact is that the proportion of the vast Hindu population to the total (319,000,000) continues to decline as it has done for forty years past.
According to the census of 1891 the proportion of Christians per 10,000 of population was 79, ten years later it was 99, and in 1911 it was 124. The number of Chris- tians has since grown from 3,876,000 to 4,754,000. This gratifying advance has been most marked in Southern India.
The religious problem of India is one of the outstand- ing problems of Christendom. To Baptists this is a problem of peculiar interest, for two Baptist missionaries, William Carey, the consecrated cobbler, and Adoniram Judson, the first American missionary to the non-Chris- tian world, inaugurated the modern missionary move- ment, and it was to India and Burma, the very heart of the non-Christian religions of the world, that they were divinely guided to inaugurate the movement that has led countless millions to behold the " light of the knowl- edge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
William Carey arrived in Calcutta on November 11, 1793. After many difficulties he settled as an indigo planter at Malda, North Bengal. He studied Bengali and Sanskrit, and began the translation of the Bible into Bengali. In 1800, he settled at Arapon, six miles from Calcutta, and in the same year began to teach Sanskrit and Bengali in the Government college. These three pioneer Baptist missionaries, Carey the cobbler. Marsh- man the " ragged school-teacher," and Ward the printer, were men of large outlook and broad sympathies. The basis of all their work was preaching and the translation of the Bible. They laid great stress on education, and Carey recognized the medical needs of the work by
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WILLIAM CAREY Baptist Pioneer in India
Interesting India 21
bringing with him to India John Thomas, a physician, and beginning medical work and work for lepers.
The printing-press was to Carey a missionary agency of the first importance, and he founded the first Bengali newspaper and the first magazine in India. In the work of Scripture translation his fame remains unequaled to this day, for from the mission press at Serampore Carey and his colleagues sent out the complete Bible in six languages, the New Testament in twenty-two more, and Scripture portions in other languages, so that from this center the Scriptures in forty languages went out to dif- ferent parts of the Orient. The first university college in India was founded by him at Serampore. Before 1818, this early group of missionaries had established more than one hundred schools with several thousand pupils. Carey was interested in agriculture and formed the " Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India " long before any similar society had been organized in Great Britain.
Carey had no small place in the social reform move- ment in India. His pen was the lance of a Christian knight as he strove day and night to bring the Government to his view and do away by Government action with suttee, or the burning of widows, in India. For long the Gov- ernment feared that such action would rouse the Hindus to fury in defense of their religion and its customs. Then one day the Government order abolishing suttee was signed by the Governor-general, Lord William Bentinck, and was put into Carey's hands. He had been appointed Government translator, for he knew the language far better than any of the civil servants. It was Sunday morning, December 4, 1829. Every day fresh victims were being burned. There could be no delay. Before the sun had set Carey had finished translating the great
22 Following the Pioneers
decree, and on Monday the compositors were busy set- ting the type that the order might be known through- out all India. Few men have been greater factors in the social progress of the world than this pioneer foreign missionary.
II
BURMA: PIONEERING IN FAITH
I have no doubt that God is preparing the way for the con- version of Burma to his Son. Nor have I any doubt that we who are now here are, in some little degree, contributing to this glorious event. This thought fills me with joy. I know not that I shall live to see a single convert; but, notwithstanding, I feel that I would not leave my present situation to be made a king. — In a letter to Doctor Baldzvin, from Adoniram Judson, dated August 26, 1817.
BURMA : PIONEERING IN FAITH
The Burma Mission, the field of Judson, Boardman, and Gushing, is the oldest and largest mission field of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society in the non- Christian world. The history, extent, triumphs, and solid worth of our Burma Baptist Mission is one of the out- standing achievements of the Baptists of the world.
In Burma we have more than one thousand Baptist churches, 77,000 Baptist church-members, and nearly 800 schools with 30,000 pupils.
We have in the Burma Mission in reality ten distinct Baptist missions. There is the Burmese Mission, the Sgaw Karen Mission, the Pwo Karen Mission, the Shan Mission, the Kachin Mission, the Chin Mission, the Talaing Mission, the Anglo-Indian Mission, the Indian Mission, and the Lahu Mission, each with its own lan- guage, customs, and distinct problems.
Adoniram Judson, the first American missionary to the non-Christian world, with Mrs. Judson, landed at Ran- goon June 13, 1813, nearly a year and a half after sail- ing from Salem, Massachusetts, on the brig Caravan bound for Calcutta, India. While taking the long voyage from America to India Mr. and Mrs. Judson changed their denomination. They were Congregationalists. Mr. Judson was a Congregational minister. His father was a Congregational minister. He was being sent to India as a missionary by the Congregational Foreign Mission Board. All his sympathies and affections were bound up with that denomination. On his way to India, how-
25
26 Following the Pioneers
ever, he became a Baptist. Mr. Judson expected to meet in India the eminent EngHsh Baptist missionaries, Carey, Marshman, and Ward. He thought it. best while on the ocean to arm himself beforehand for the encounter with these formidable champions of the Baptist position. In the enforced seclusion of the long sea voyage of four months, he had plenty of time for thorough study of the New Testament and the doctrinal position of the Baptists. The result of his searching study and constant prayer was the conclusion reluctantly formed that he was wrong and the Baptists were right. It was only after a great struggle that Judson yielded and became a Baptist. Upon landing in Calcutta, Mr. and Mrs. Judson were baptized by Rev, William Ward ; and on the first of November, two months later, Rev. Luther Rice, another of the group of pioneer missionaries, who, though sailing on a different vessel, had. experienced a similar change of conviction and had become a Baptist, was likewise baptized in Cal- cutta upon his arrival.
The call of Judson and Rice to the Baptists of America, at that time disorganized, scattered, despised, came as an inspiring challenge to a great divine task, and from that hour the movement began which made of the Baptists one of the great Christian forces of the world.
India was ruled at that time by the East India Com- pany which was opposed to missionaries. Mr. and Mrs. Judson were peremptorily told by the ofificials at Cal- cutta that thev must return at once to America. But America held no charm for these enthusiastic young missionaries. Under cover of night they embarked on a ship sailing for the Isle of France, and from there sailed for Madras. Their arrival was at once reported to the company, and they feared they would be transported to England. There was a vessel in the harbor bound for
ADONIRAM JUDSON Baptist Pioneer in Burma
Burma : Pioneering in Faith 27
Rangoon, Burma. Burma was at that time an indepen- dent nation under a cruel Burman king. God's providence had hemmed them into this one opening. Subsequent history has proved that the Hand which led them so strangely and sternly, yet lovingly, was the Hand which never leads astray. American Baptists, in their assault on non-Christian Asia, could not have chosen a more strategic position than Rangoon. Here for four years, without apparent results, in the midst of almost inde- scribable hardships, persecution, discouragement, and suf- fering, the missionaries continued to work, preaching to such as could be gathered in secret, writing tracts, and translating the New Testament. At last, on May 7, 1817, they had their first serious inquirer, and two years later, on June 27, 1819, six years after their arrival in Burma, Judson baptized his first convert.
Burma, although at present politically a province of the Indian Empire, is as different from India proper as it is from China. The Burman is Mongolian ; the Indian, Aryan. Burma is Buddhist, India is Hindu and Moham- medan. In India, everything is dominated and held in the iron grip of caste. In Burma there is no caste. In India the Hindu and Mohammedan women are secluded in the zenanas and purdah. In Burma the women are free and happy. India is overpopulated and poor. In Burma there are vast empty spaces and undeveloped resources. Burma has by far the highest standard of literacy in the Indian Empire, and until very recently has been wholly untouched by the seditious movements that have been so prominent in India since 1910.
Burma has an area of more than 230,000 square miles ; the province is girt about and isolated, separated from China, Siam, and India by broad barriers of almost path- less mountains on her northern, eastern, and western
28 Following the Pioneers
frontiers, and on the south and southwest her shores are washed by the Bay of Bengal. Her mountain ranges running north and south are the outstretched fingers of the Himalayas. Three mighty rivers, the Irrawaddy, the Chidwin, and the Salween, flow through the valleys enriching the land and providing natural arteries for transportation and trade. Burma is the richest Province of the Indian Empire with abundant natural resources. Her plains produced in 1921 seven million tons of rice and great quantities of cotton, peanuts, maize, and beans. Burma has wonderful forests. There are thirty thousand acres of forest in government reserve. The world's supply of teak comes from Burma. Teak, on account of its dura- bility, strength, and slight expansion and contraction, is very useful in ship-building. There are sixty thousand acres under rubber cultivation in the province, and hidden away in her mountains are tin, lead, silver, and zinc. From Burma comes the wolfram supply of the world. The most famous ruby mines in the world are here. Jade and amber are also found in abundance. Two hun- dred and seventy-five million gallons of petroleum were produced in Burma in 1921. The Burman rivers are teeming with fish, and in her forests and hills are tigers, bears, deer, wild boar, and other animals, with peacocks and beautiful birds of all descriptions in her valleys and mountains. Nature has been open-handed and bountiful to Burma. One of Burma's own sons has thus written of this wonderfully beautiful country :
With the Burmese, the sentiment of nationality has always been a living thing. This feeling permeates and dominates their his- tory as the Irrawaddy dominates the land in which they dwell. From the conquest of the Takings by the Burmans (A. D. 1755) until the advent of the British, the country was ruled by the Burmese kings sufficiently long to establish a strong national
Burma : Pioneering in Faith 29
tradition. This tradition, combined with the common Buddhist reHgion, common customs, and a common social framework, has developed a strong feeling of nationality. Man has completed what Nature began. Here in this giant horseshoe of mountains Nature said : " Behold my cradle for a nation ! The Burmese are that predestined nation."
Rangoon, with more than 300,000 people, is the capital of the Province. The Prince of Wales in his visit to Burma in 1922 thus responded to the wonderful welcome given to him by the people of Burma's principal city:
I thank you very warmly for the address of welcome which you have presented to me. The name which your city bears, " the city of peace," or more literally, " the end of war," is an appro- priate testimony of what Pax Britannica has done for Burma and Rangoon. No more romantic page in the annals of the develop- ment of the Empire can be found than the history of the growth of a small town of thatched huts, which passed under British occupation in 1852, into this vast metropolis and prosperous port of today. Where yesterday wilderness, mud, labyrinths, and hovels met the eye, the fair capital of the richest province of the Empire today lifts up her proud head. Here railways and crafts of the two great river valleys of Burma deliver up the spoils of your mines, your oil-fields, your rice plantations, and your forests to factories and docks of this city. The shipping of all lands seeks your port to carry your product to the four corners of the world.
There is romance too in the many nationalities which throng your streets and docks at the first sight. Amidst the multiplicity of creeds and tongues of your citizens the only common tie would seem to be the bond of adherence to the British Empire, under whose protection they live and prosper. In spite of such diver- sity of elements, your city is essentially a part and parcel of Burma, and in a true sense the capital of Burma, for in your midst stands the great pagoda, the oldest of all holy places of religion, claiming a larger proportion of followers among the human race than any other, and this building is the supreme expression of the genius of the Burmese people. The fortunes of your city are entirely bound up with those of the province, for, as the main outlet for the riches of Burma, on her growing prosperity and welfare rests your increasing strength.
30 Following the Pioneers
The Burmans number nine millions of the thirteen million people of the province. There are many lan- guages and dialects spoken among the various peoples of Burma, and no one language would be understood by all the people, but the Burmese language is the lingua franca of the country. This language, while difficult to most, especially in its literary and religious forms, is rich in variety and expression and has a large and important literature, mostly Buddhist.
The Burmese, from a missionary standpoint, is the most important race group in Burma, although the least responsive thus far to the efforts to win them to Chris- tianity. We must win the Burmese if we are to win Burma for Christ.
Buddhism is the religion of the Burman. Buddhism has a large and rich literature ; numbers its " priests of the yellow robe " by thousands ; has built pagodas and monasteries in all parts of the Province, and is a re- ligion of noble, ethical precepts that, mixed as it is with animism and nat-worship, has a tremendous hold upon the Burmese and Shan people.
Dr. J. N. Cushing, who was for forty years a mission- ary in Burma and was most sympathetic toward Bud- dhism, in his book, " Christ and Buddha," says :
Buddhism stands before us with Gotama, a pure, noble, true man, as its founder, and the teacher of the highest system of morality outside the Christian Scriptures. Yet, when we touch the soul's deep needs, its craving for deliverance from the power and the results of sin, its longing for an omnipotent Deliverer by whose assistance it may reach a sinless, happy state, we find in Gotama no answering divine voice that speaks relief. The voice is the voice of a man, thoughtful indeed and versed in the knowl- edge of the human hfeart, but still the voice of only a man, offering a cold and dreary philosophy of life, which in its course and result cuts athwart all the intuitions and aspirations of a human
Burma : Pioneering in Faith 31
soul. He honestly sought to solve the problem of human suffer- ing and escape from it. But a fountain cannot rise above its source, and the system of Gotama is only human and inadequate to its object. Turning to Christianity, we hear a divine voice that responds to every human need, telling of deliverance from sin through a loving, omnipotent Saviour and of the eternal life of heaven. Here is a salvation complete in itself, according with every want of man. Therefore, turning from the " Light of Asia" to the "Light of the World," wt accept as truth his declaration, " I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
There are 257,107 Christians of all denominations in Burma, but only 15,381 of these Christians are Burmans. The Burmese work, while most difficult, is more hopeful today than it has been since the time of Judson, for the Burmese, especially those in the country districts, are more open and responsive to the gospel now than they have ever been before. We have mission stations for Burmese work at Tavoy, IMoulmein, Rangoon, Bassein, Prome, Man- dalay, Myingyan, Maymyo, Pegu, Pyapon, Sagaing, Toungoo, Thonze, Pyinmana, Henzada, Meiktila, and Bhamo. In addition to the missionaries, the churches, schools, and other institutions in these towns, working directly for the Burmese, there are many Burmese churches in other towns and villages under the super- vision of Burmese teachers and preachers. The 1921 census report places the number of Burmese Baptists at 7,265. Concerning the progress of Christianity in Burma Rev. C. E. Chaney says :
One thing is certain, the numerical strength is a forceful testi- mony, after a hundred years of effort, to the difficulty of the task to evangelize Burma, for Burma is chiefly Burmese. He would be faint-hearted and short-sighted, however, who was not optimistic in spite of comparatively small numbers, for these numbers do not tell the whole story or gage correctly the real situation. What of the larger constituency back of this membership? What of
32 Following the Pioneers
the solid foundation that has been so well laid and the organized work for undertaking the larger task? What of the large num- ber of boys and girls that have been in our Baptist Christian schools and are distinctly sympathetic to Christians, although they have not been able as yet to make the break from Buddhism to Christianity? In the new day that is dawning in Burma, Christian leadership will have a large part, and Buddhists will feel less and less the restraint of social ostracism, because if they leave one social group, it will be to be received in another which stands high in intelligence and respect. The day of the great break in our Burmese work is drawing near. The educated and Burmese leaders will yet welcome their emancipation from the impossible position of knowing that Buddhist cosmography is a figment of the imagination and yet having to bow to and con- firm it under the cloak of religion. The same is true in the realm of ethics and morals. Our day has been long delayed, but it is at hand, even at the door.
The following items from the Burma Baptist Conven- tion report of 1921 give an idea of the bigness and impor- tance of the Burmese work :
Number of Mission Stations 16
" " Associations 5
" " Churches 50
" " Ordained preachers 30
" " Unordained preachers 57
" " Bible-women 20
" " Baptisms during the year 790
" Church -members 5044
" " Sunday schools 100
" Enrolled in Sunday schools 4881
" of Christian Endeavor Societies 11
" Enrolled in Christian Endeavor Societies 539
" of Normal Schools 3
" " Anglo-vernacular Schools for Boys 15
" " Anglo-vernacular Schools for Girls 11
" " High Schools for Boys ^
" " High Schools for Girls 3
" Colleges 1
" " Bible Schools for Women 1
" " Theological Seminaries 1
Total Contributions of the Churches for the Year Rs. 38,713
Burma : Pioneering in Faith 33
These five Burmese Baptist Associations are organized into the Burmese Baptist Conference. This Burmese Baptist Conference has an independent work of its own and supports evangehstic and school work in Magee and is entirely responsible for all the work in half of the great Myingyan field. The Burmese churches are further organized together with the Karen churches and the churches of the other races in Burma in the Burma Bap- tist Convention. The annual meeting of this Convention is one of the outstanding Baptist gatherings of the world. At the session at which I was present in October, 1921, there were 2,300 registered delegates. In 1920, the president of the Convention was Saya Ah Syoo, the pastor of the Moulmein Burman Baptist Church. The president in 1921 was Saya Ba Te, one of the eminent Christian leaders of Burma. The president for the current year is Saya Toe Khut, the head master of the Alaubin Pwo Karen School. The Convention is entirely independent and self-supporting. It has invested funds of Rs. 84,500, and the income last year was Rs. 16,937. With this money the Convention supports, in whole or in part, evan- gelists in fifteen fields, and in addition the churches sup- port the All-Burma Baptist Orphanage at Lloulmein. There are eighty children in the orphanage, and the budget is Rs. 6,515.
Everywhere there is manifested in Burma a spirit of aggressive evangelism on the part of the Burmese mis- sionaries and the Burmese pastors and teachers. These leaders all recognize that now is the time of times to stress evangelism. In the heart of Rangoon stands the Laumadaw church building with its strong self-support- ing church, a lineal descendant of the church established by Judson more than a century ago. The pastor of this church is Saya Yaw Ba, a man of marked ability who
34 Following the Pioneers
was formerly in Government service, later head master of the Burmese High School at Henzada. He left a position paying Rs. 130 a month to become pastor of this church at Rs. 80 a month. At Sagaing just across the river from Ava, the scene of Judson's first imprison- ment, Dr. S. R. McCurdy is carrying on an intensive evangelistic campaign in the river district with its hun- dreds of Burmese villages. Doctor McCurdy reports :
We have reached villages eighty miles up the river and have covered five distinct areas in the immediate Sagaing district. So far we have reached about 300 different villages. By day we use large, colored pictures of the life of Christ. At night we use the stereopticon with great success. We have sold between four and five thousand Scripture portions, telling the people that they will find in the book a more complete account of what the preachers have said.
From far Tavoy in the South to Bhamo in the North, the gospel is being preached to the proud Burmese, and men, women, and children of this dominant race are being won to the Christian faith.
Burma is one of the most literate provinces in the Indian empire. There is a Buddhist literature, both in Burmese and Pali. The Buddhist monks in their monas- teries conduct schools for boys and carry them through the lower standards. In addition, the Young Men's Bud- dhist Association has several Buddhist schools of the higher standards and several high schools for boys, but none for girls. A comprehensive study of what Baptists are doing in Burma today could not fail to reveal the scope and Christian influence of our educational system as one of the chief glories of our work in the Province. We have a total of 732 schools of all grades and an enrolment of thirty thousand pupils. We have high schools for the Karens at Bassein, Tharrawaddy, and Rangoon, and nine
Burma : Pioneering in Faith 35
high schools for Burmans, one for girls and one for boys at Aloulmein, one for girls and one for boys at Rangoon, one for girls and one for boys at ]\Iandalay, and one high school each at Pyinmana, Myingyan, and Henzada. The Burmese high schools for girls of the Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society at Morton Lane, Kemendine, and ]Mandalay are schools that are an honor to the Society and to the denomination. As I visited Alorton Lane School at ]\Ioulmein and the girls' high school at Mandalay and was present at the gradua- tion exercises at Kemendine, I was impressed that in these girls' schools we have one of the greatest forces for leavening and elevating the home and individual life of Burma. These schools were established to give the girls of Burma high- and normal-school advantages equal to those of any country; and to teach them the highest ethical standards and prepare them for lives of usefulness as home-makers, or in the professions, and above all to acquaint them during these happy days at school in the most personal way with Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Morton Lane was founded in 1867, and is the oldest Burmese school for girls in Burma. Its history is one of unbroken success for more than half a century. With its well-planned buildings, its staff of twenty-six devoted teachers, and its 400 bright Burmese girls, Morton Lane is one of the outstanding institutions of Asia. Kemendine, in Rangoon, was founded in 1871, and it was my privi- lege to have a part in the jubilee celebration of this school in 1921, at which time the corner-stone of the beau- tiful new building, Bennett Hall, was laid. There are three hundred girls in attendance at this school. A strong Christian spirit pervades the school, and there are baptisms every year, and many more would be bap- tized if permission could be secured from their Buddhist
36 Following the Pioneers
parents. The teachers and girls carry on five outside Sunday schools with an attendance of 240 children. The Mandalay girls' school with 250 girls has a powerful and continually widening influence in Northern Burma. At the laying of the corner-stone for the new kindergarten building in April, 1921, I met one of the graduates, Ma Mhi, who also received a degree from Judson College and has taught twelve years in the Government normal school. Ma Mhi received a silver medal from the Government in recognition of her devoted services, and has now been sent by the Department of Education to Maymyo for a year of special study in kindergarten work, to qualify her to bring out the books for kindergarten work in Burmese for the entire Province.
In the foreground of our educational work in Burma is Judson College, the one Christian college of Burma. It was established in 1872 as Rangoon Baptist College, by Rev. J. G. Binney, D. D., and in June, 1909, was affiliated with Calcutta University as a full first-grade college, qualified to present candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Today it occupies a large and influential place in the educational life of Burma. Its success has been made possible through the realization that true education is Christian education and can be imparted only by Chris- tians of the highest ideals. For the last few years the College has been greatly handicapped because of limited accommodations. In December, 1920, a New Burma Uni- versity was established by the Government. This uni- versity is. to be composed of the two constituent colleges which were formerly affiliated with Calcutta Univer- sity: that is, Rangoon College and Judson College. The former is a Government institution and is compelled by law to be neutral in religious matters. The other is the only Christian college in the Province. The Government
Burma : Pioneering in Faith 37
proposes to admit both institutions as constituent col- leges of the new Burma University and to give them equal rights and privileges. The Baptist college is to have proportional representation on the governing body of the university and the control of its own property and policies. Its aims and methods as a distinctively Chris- tian institution are to be fully safeguarded, and are guar- anteed by its new constitution.
The new plan contemplates the establishment of the university on the site outside the limits of the city of Rangoon, where sufficient land can be obtained to pro- vide tor the buildings and grounds. The Government will acquire the land and will give to Judson College as much as is needed for college purposes and for the residences of the professors. One-half the cost of the buildings which the college must erect, including the residences of the professors, will be provided, as well as substantial aid toward equipment and maintenance. If Baptists are to profit by this generosity they must be ready to do their share in building and equipping the new college. Judson College has a faculty of twenty- two men and women. This faculty is young, enthusiastic, well trained, thoroughly Christian, and devoted to their work. Four have their degrees from Harvard, three from Chicago, one from Yale, one from Colgate, one from Denison, one from McMaster, one from Rochester, one from Ohio State, seven from Calcutta, one from Madras, and one from Rangoon. There are 138 students in the college, thirty-two of whom are women. Thirty- seven students are working their way through college. The college assembles twice a week for chapel services, and on other days the classes meet separately for Bible study as a part of the curriculum, and Sunday morning there is a service in English which all the boarders at-
38 Following the Pioneers
tend. The college church, composed of students and teachers of Judson College, Gushing High School, and the Normal School, maintains a strong organization with a Bible school and separate Burmese and Karen church services in the evening and the midweek college prayer- meeting. There is a brotherhood with its regular Bible study courses and services of friendship in different parts of the city. The college church contributed Rs. 900 last year for the support of one of their own graduates who is working as a missionary in the Inlay Lake District. Rev. H. E. Safford, who was pastor of the college church, reports the following as a result of the Christian influence and missionary service of this college church :
In February, 1921, a young carpenter, employed in making furniture for Mr. Hattersley's new hostel, was accepted for bap- tism after giving evidence of unusual grasp of Bible truth. He had been a lay preacher of the Karen Klee-bo-pah heresy, but on becoming a boarder in Thra Po Gyaw's family, while at work in our midst, he joined in the family prayer circle, and thus came to a true conception of Christ's deity. After returning to his village, Leain-zut, he wrote occasionally of converts being won among relatives and neighbors. Exactly a year after his own baptism he returned with four desiring to make like confession. The Sunday following I was fortunately able to secure Mr. and Mrs. Seagrave to accompany our Karen deacons and others in visiting this village, where I baptized twelve, including several in middle life, and again a fortnight later we all went, and I baptized sixteen, among these a man of eighty, his wife only ten years younger, and ten of their descendants. The villagers con- ceived a preference for receiving the rite at the hands of the college pastor who had baptized their carpenter leader.
A church has now been organized with thirty-three members, and others are expected to join shortly by baptism and letter. The first deacon chosen is a young woman of unusual ability though never enjoying extensive school privileges.
The success of a mission is measured in part at least by the extent to which self-supporting churches have been
Burma ; Pioneering in Faith 39
established and the control of the work given into the hands of the indigenous people. Substantial progress has been made in all our missions in self-support and in- dependence. The future of the Burmese work depends in a large measure upon the leadership of the churches. To prepare these leaders we have a strong theological seminary for the training of a Burmese minister. On a hill at Insein, on the same compound with the Karen Theological Seminary, is located the Burmese Theological Seminary with an enrolment of forty-four men. The graduating class this year numbered nineteen. Six of these men served as soldiers in the great war, and this experience, together with the careful, thorough training they have received in the Seminary, will make them, we believe, most efficient leaders of the church of Jesus Christ in Burma. The Seminary is supported liberally by the members of the Burmese churches. A new dormi- tory, to cost $5,000, is urgently needed. The Burmese Christians have already subscribed nearly $2,000, and it is hoped that our Society will soon be able to make an appropriation for this building, thus equipping this Semi- nary for a place of large importance in our Baptist work in Burma.
There are fifty thousand villages and hamlets in Burma. Most of the people live in the country; eighty per cent, are engaged in agriculture. Most of our Baptist churches are rural churches. The land is fertile and the rainfall abundant, but the average income of the farming people is only a few cents a day. A missionary Society that holds as important a place in the life and progress of Burma as we do, must not be blind to the rural prob- lem. Our answer to this problem is the Pyinmana Agricultural School, whose objective is thus described by Rev. Brayton C. Case, a missionary and the son of
40 Following the Pioneers
a missionary who is the founder and first principal of the school :
The Pyinmana School of Agriculture, being of a type similar to Hampton and Tuskegee, will take the boys who have passed only the village primary school and are fourteen years of age, and give them four-years' training in scientific agriculture. Half the time will be given to practical work in the field and shop, to train the boys in habits of industry, and to teach them how to go back to their villages and, by using the help available from the great wide world, transform their village life. We will teach them how to use the plows, harrows, cultivators, seed-drills, mow- ing-machines, grain binders, threshing-machines, tractors, and irri- gation-pumps with which we have learned to unlock the store- houses under our feet, and they will likewise unlock the storehouses under their feet. We will teach them to grow pure seed giving twice the yield for the same effort, to get all the available iugar out of the cane instead of half of it, to raise a cow giving more than two quarts of milk a day and a pig that weighs more than one hundred and fifty pounds in three years. But in addition to this, we will produce Christian men to whom the people of Burma will look and say : " I wish I could be a man like that. I wish my son could do what he can. I wish I had a God that blessed his people like that."
The American Baptist Mission Press at Rangoon not only serves the entire Burma Mission and all the races of Burma, but with its fine building and three hundred employees, it is recognized as one of the solid and most progressive business institutions in the city of Rangoon. The Mission report for the year 1922 thus sums up the work of the Press :
The Mission Press through more than a century has maintained its place of leadership by the production of new faces of ver- nacular type, many of them " made on the premises," and others made by the latest methods known to American type-founders, but to designs and plans sent from the Press. The latest addition to our printing capacities, placing us a second long step ahead of all competitors, is the installation of two fine linotypes to set
Burma : Pioneering in Faith 41
Sgaw Karen. We now have two linotypes setting Burmese in the Burmese character, and these two others setting Sgaw Karen in the character given by our missionaries three generations ago to that people. Plans have already gone home looking to the conversion at will of these two Sgaw Karen machines into Pwo Karen machines. In this respect we lead all other printers in India, for none of them has ever adapted any of the modern com- posing machines to the vernacular type used in any of the languages of India.
Note the polyglot list of publications entered during the year in the various languages in which we regularly work. The number of titles, by language, is as follows : Burmese, 24; Sgaw Karen, 11 ; Pwo Karen, 4; Shan, 4; Kachin, 3; Talain (Old Testament por- tions), 20; Chin, 2; English, 7; Anglo-vernacular, 4; Polyglot (three languages), 1 ; Lisu (for use in China), 1. A total of 81 titles.
But let some of the items be gathered together in another way. We find 80,000 New Testament portions in Burmese ; 2,725 whole Bibles in Sgaw Karen, in three editions, one being with references and one of those without references for the British and Foreign Bible Society ; 2,000 Pwo Karen New Testaments ; 10,000 Gospels in Shan for the Bible Society; 20,000 Old Testament portions in Talain ; and a beginning made in setting and stereotyping a pocket edition of the New Testament in Kachin.
Next to the Bible our people appreciate their hymn-books, and the latest demand is for hymn-and-tune books. We have had a Sgaw Karen hymn-and-tune book for several years past, and now we are working on a similar book for the Burmans, another for the Pwo Karens, and still another — a C. E. hymn-book — for the Sgaw Karens, and with two other such books in prospect for the near future. These represent many months of painstaking labor for each missionary editor.
The rest of the publications noted in our table above are either educational or of a general religious character in the main. But mention should be made of nearly a score of periodicals printed at the Press in five languages, and not included in the above table, a mass of enlightenment in itself almost sufficient to justify the existence of the Press. Particular mention should be made of our three International Sunday School Lesson Helps in three languages, with three missionary editors, of which we issue about 22.000 monthly.
42 Following the Pioneers
The missionary movement in the final analysis must be judged by the type of manhood and womanhood it pro- duces. There is a qualitative as well as a. quantitative test : we weigh as well as count. Burmese leaders are coming to the front who will, in the future, assume large respon- sibility in their own land. American Baptists should be introduced to a few of these men and women. U We Lin, a layman, a college graduate, a government inspector of schools for the Irrawaddy Division, honored by the gov- ernment for his service, a recipient of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal, is a stalwart Christian and a loyal member of the Bassein Burmese Baptist church. Saya Ba Hlaing, a grad- uate of Judson Boys' High School, Moulmein, and of Judson College, is now holding a missionary's place as Superintendent of Judson Boys' High School in Moul- mein, is a man of sterling qualities, and is held in high esteem by all communities and races. Saya Ba Hlaing has recently been appointed by the Government to the high school advisory board which controls the entrance examinations to the new Rangoon University. Dr. Ah Pon, for a long while associate physician with Doctor Henderson at Taunggyi, now has charge of our medical work and hospital at Kengtung. Dr. Ah Pon has a deep understanding of the different races of Burma. He is an exceedingly strong personality and most earnestly evangelistic. Saya Ba Te, President of the Burma Bap- tist Convention in 1920, was a lawyer. He left the law with its honors and remuneration to become an evangelist. He has exceptional platform gifts and is a wonderful linguist, speaking fluently English, Burmese, Karen, Lahu, and several other languages. He has written and translated many hymns for the Lahu people, and has been wonderfully used of God in taking the gospel in their own language to many of the frontier tribes. Mg Ba
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Burma : Pioneering in Faith 43
Tin, a Judson College graduate, a Christian layman of outstanding qualities of leadership, was the first Burman to be made a commissioned officer in the army. Mg Ba Tin not only helped to fight the battles of the British Empire in the World War, but in the camp and on the firing-line took his stand boldly for Jesus Christ. Saya Tun Pe, a man of deep, quiet, intense spiritual life, a most delightful friend and helpful counselor, is a graduate of Judson College, with an M. A. degree from Calcutta Uni- versity. He is now professor in Judson College, and is a recognized scholar in university circles. Saya Tun Pe is prominent in all activities of the church, is a most accept- able preacher, and is an earnest personal worker. U Tho Din, of Insein, is a retired Government official, a man of most striking personal appearance, who is now devoting most of his time and efifort to Christian work. He is a most generous supporter of the Aloulmein Baptist Orphanage, the Burman Theological Seminary, and all the activities of the church and the Burma Baptist Conference. Saya Ah Syoo, pastor of the Moulmein Burma Baptist church, first Burmese President of the Burma Baptist Convention, a trustee of Judson College, a man loved and respected by all who know him, prominent in all missionary, educa- tional, and philanthropic activities of the church in Burma, is a good representative of the Burmese Baptist pastors, among whom there are many noble men of high devotion and self-sacrifice.
Wherever Christianity goes, there womanhood and childhood are loved, honored, and blessed. The Burmese women have always held a place of primary importance in no way inferior to the men. Buddhism does not give her this place, for in Buddhism her hope for the future and her constant prayer is that in her next existence she may be born a man, for then she will be eligible to become a
44 Following the Pioneers
poonjye or priest, and from that vantage-ground she may more rapidly find her way to naikban and extinction from the endless succession of lives. The most conserva- tive and loyal disciple of any religion is woman. To win Burma we must win the women of the land, the mothers to mold and guide the life of the future. Our Burmese Mission is rich in its women.
Dr. Ma Saw Sa received her early training in the mis- sion school at Danubyu, Bassein, and Zigon, and her high-school work at the college school. She entered the college in 1904, and as a student was an active Christian worker. She made it a practise to visit the hospitals of Rangoon and try to lead the women patients to Christ. In this way she became convinced that there was great need for Christian women doctors, and proceeded to Calcutta, where she won the degree of licentiate in mid- wifery and surgery in 1911. Then she went to Dublin to specialize further. She obtained by examination a fellow- ship in the Royal College of Surgeons and the diploma of public health. The nobility of her choice and the ideals that actuated it, for she is the first and only Burman woman physician, made a deep impression, not only on the Christian, but also on the Buddhist Burmans. To the ideals of her college days she remained true. She is today one of the leading members of the Burmese Chris- tian Community, and is now Superintendent of Dufferin Hospital, Rangoon. Dr. Ma Saw Sa was the Jubilee guest of the Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society from Burma in 1921. There are many such women in our Burmese Mission. There is Ma Tin of Rangoon, who has given herself to direct Bible teaching and evangelistic work among Burmese women and children. She is a woman with a deep spiritual ex- perience who is known all through the mission for her
Burma : Pioneering in Faith 45
Christian character and her ChristUke work. Ma Alary, of Henzada, is a Hving saint, known far and near for long years of service at Henzada, a tower of strength to the Burmese church. i\Ia Shwe Me, of Morton Lane Girls' School, a teacher of many years in this school, was recently recognized by the government, who, in appreciation of her service to the cause of the education of girls in Burma, rewarded her publicly by the gift of a watch. Her quiet but strong personality has been one of the big factors in the unparalleled influence of the Morton Lane Girls' School. These women are but repre- sentatives of a class whom Christ is bringing to the front for the new day in Burma.
The story of the suffering of Judson in the death prison at Ava and Oung-Pen-La and of the heroism and devotion of Mrs. Judson is one of the priceless heritages of Christian faith. Of this experience Edward Judson wrote :
But the spectacle of our missionary lying in an Oriental prison, freighted with five pairs of irons, his heroic wife ministering to him like an angel during the long months of agony, has burned itself into the consciousness of Christendom, and has made retreat impossible from the ramparts of heathenism.
The lone believer of 1819 has become a multitude who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The Bible had been translated into Burmese, the Karens as a nation had accepted the gospel, when stricken with disease Mr. Judson was put on a vessel for a sea voyage, and in a few days, on April 12, 1850, the old soldier reported to the great Commander, and his body was buried at sea. Alone among strangers he was lowered to his ocean grave. Nor could he have had a more fitting monument than the blue waves which
46 Following the Pioneers
visit every coast, for his warm sympathies went forth to the ends of the earth and included all the families of men. In the Baptist meeting-house at Maiden there is a marble tablet with this inscription :
Maiden his birthplace, the ocean his sepulchre, converted Bur- mans and the Burman Bible his monument. His record is on high.
Ill
THE KARENS OF BURMA : TRIUMPHANT CHRISTIANITY
Uplifted are the gates of brass, the bars of iron yield; Behold the King of Glory pass, the Cross hath won the field.
Dr. MA SAW SA Superintendent of Dufferin Hospital, Rangoon, Burma
THE KARENS OF BURMA: TRIUMPHANT CHRISTIANITY
The Karen Baptist Mission in Burma is one of the great triumphs of the foreign missionary movement and one of the preeminent miracles of modern missions. It is generally recognized that the Karen race owes its marked development and the leading place it holds today among the races of Burma to the American Baptist Mission. There are 918 Karen Baptist churches in Burma with a membership of 56,714. According to the 1921 census 134,924 out of the total of 178,225 Karen Christians call themselves Baptists.
The Karens are Mongoloids, related to the Chinese, having migrated south from Western China. There are between 1,500,000 and 2,000,000 Karens in Burma and about the same number in Siam. The three main divisions of the Karens are Sgaw Karens. Pwo Karens, and Red Karens. There are a number of other minor tribes, such as the Bwe, Paku, Taungthu, and Padongs. While there are no hard and fast geographical lines by which we can designate their location, we can in general say that the Pwo Karens are in the lower Delta extending south- east to the Moulmein and Tavoy side and over into Siam. The Sgaw Karens occupy in general the territory from the Arracan shore eastward to Toungoo, and extend to the south into the Delta. The Red Karens are found in the Karrennee Hills south of the Shan States. Over three-fifths of our converts are from the Sgaw Karens two-fifth«i from the Pwo Karens and other tribes.
49
50 Following the Pioneers
There are many traditions in regard to the origin of the Karens and their migration from China. One of the traditions is as follows : There were ninety-nine families traveling south. They stopped at noon to make their dinner of snails, which they cooked with an herb that turned the brew red, and they mistook the color for un- cooked blood. Therefore, thirty-three families started on without waiting for the brew to cook until done. These included the Karens. The sixty-six families remained behind to finish the brew and are there to this day. They are the Muhsoes, Lahus, Kaws, Was, and other closely allied races. Another tradition which is found among all the Karens is that their forefathers crossed a river of sand. This is generally believed to be the Desert of Gobi.
Under their Burmese conquerors, the Karens had a hard time, and were driven into the mountain recesses where they were able to protect themselves from the Burmans. From these mountain villages they made fre- quent raids upon the rich valleys of the Burmans and Shans, and in return the Burmans and Shans often hunted the Karens in their mountain fastnesses as they would hunt wild beasts. Under British protection the Pwos and Sgaw Karens have spread out more and more through the Delta section where great stretches of the best land in Burma are now being cultivated by the Karens. They have been educated by our Baptist Mission, and are now in every way the equal of their Burmese brothers. The events of the past few years have fanned the spirit of race and nationalism among the Karens. They have a national society, the Dawkalat, in which both Christians and non-Christians cooperate.
The national characteristics and temperament of the Karens largely reflect the oppression, poverty, and re-
The Karens of Burma 51
ligious influences to which they have been subjected. Hasty judgment is apt to be very unfair. When one has Hved and worked with the Karens long enough to know and understand them, he will love them for their many virtues. The Karens are clannish, timid, and retiring — a natural condition for a people who for centuries have been tormented and torn by oppressors. In their lives and conduct they are simple, unassuming, open-hearted, and straightforward. By nature they are a moral and religious people, hard-working and industrious. The Karens are also great lovers of music and have developed a real appreciation of Western musical art ; in fact, some of them have voices which with training might fit them to join an opera company in America. The Karen choir which attended the great Christian Endeavor World Con- vention at Agra a few years ago quite captured the Con- vention with its splendid music.
Before the Karens came into contact with Buddhism and Christianity, they were devil-worshipers pure and simple. The following is one of their traditions : A father living in the jungle left his children to watch the house while he went far afield to work his garden. While he was gone a great tiger came to the house in search of food. The children in terror hid themselves under some blankets in the house while the tiger made his meal of pork, killing and eating the mother of a litter of pigs under the house. At night when the father returned he could not find the children nor get an answer to his calls. At last he found them shaking with fright, and got from them the story of the day's happenings. Next morning he said, " Now what shall I do, for according to the customs of tigers, it will be sure to return today in search of more food, and will eat my children? " At last he decided to build a little hut high up in a clump of
52 Following the Pioneers
big bamboos. This he did, and placed his children and the litter of pigs in it, and went off to his work. Soon the tiger came again and searched under the house and in the house, finding nothing. Finally he scented his food in the bamboos and tried to spring up at them, but failed. Neither could he climb the bamboos. Thereupon he sat under the bamboos and shook the earth with a terrifying roar. The children, shaking with fear, said, '' What shall we do ? " The elder brother proposed that they feed the little pigs to him, which they did one at a time to satisfy the tiger and save themselves. All the time they were anxiously hoping for the return of their father and listening for the twang of his bow-string. Thus the Karen justifies himself for the sacrifices he offers to demons from the motive of fear and not out of love.
There are other traditions that have prepared the Karens in a marvelous way for the reception of the gospel. These traditions have been learned and passed on orally from father to son for generations. One tradition says that the Karens years ago had the book of God. It got wet in the rains and was placed on a post to dry. One of the innumerable crows of the country alighted on it, caus- ing it to fall to the ground, and immediately one of the hungry pariah dogs, with which the country abounds, ate it. Thus the book of God was lost. But their younger white brother would come in a boat with great white wings to bring back the book of God. The Burman could not give it to them (that is, Buddhism). The Chinaman could not give it to them (that is, Confucianism). The Indian could not give it to them (that is, Hinduism). Thus the three great nations by which they were sur- rounded could not out of their three great religious sys- tems give back the book of God. When their younger
The Karens of Burma 53
white brother came from over the sea in a great ship with white wings, he would give them back the book. At that time the boats would paddle themselves (mechanically propelled boats), the rice-grinder would run itself (steam rice-mills), the weaving-machine would run itself ( ma- chine-made cloth in place of material made in the hand- loom). It is easy at once to see how, with the advent of the Christian missionary, these prophecies all seemed to be most literally fulfilled. When Doctor Wade first went out on a preaching tour with an interpreter among the Karens, he entered a village, and the people at once fled. After he sent for them and assured them that he was not an official of the Government but a religious teacher, they were persuaded to return and listen. Very soon an elder in the number spoke up and asked, " Where is the book?" He was asked, "What book?" and the answer came back, " The Karen book." But Doctor Wade said, " The Karen never had a book, he has no writing." Then the elder assured him that they did have a book, and told how it was lost, and how they have been waiting for the white brother to return it to them. This decided Doctor Wade to reduce the language to writing so as to translate the Bible into Karen.
These traditions were in verse, and have been learned and orally passed on from father to son for generations. Below is a translation of one of the traditions about the Creation :
The earth at first a speck of froth; Who created? Who remade it? The earth at first a speck of foam ; Who created? Who remade it? The earth at first a speck of froth ; God created. God remade it. The earth at first a speck of foam ; God himself formed, he reformed it.
54 Following the Pioneers
Heaven above the Eternal placed, Earth beneath the Eternal placed; Heaven and earth he cleft apart, Placed whom when he would depart? The Eternal ordered heaven vast, Fixed the earth's foundation fast; Heaven and earth asunder cleft, Man and woman there were left.
Like a top the round world spinning, How lived folks in the beginning? Like thread on reel it circles round, What have the first folks on it found? Round the earth spins like a top. Turned as reel without a stop ; Here the first folks lived at leisure. Here the first folks lived for pleasure.
The whole round earth God came to form. He can make broad, he can make narrow ; The whole round earth God came to mend. With ease he can make broad or narrow.
Rev. E, N. Harris, a Karen missionary, in his in- forming book on the Karen people, " A Star in the East," from which the traditions quoted in this chapter have been taken, thus describes the work of the early missionaries in reducing the Karen language to writing and producing a literature for these people :
This insistent demand on the part of the Karen people in accor- dance with their traditions seemed to make it necessary that the missionaries should give them the Bible in their own vernacular. This it was which decided them to reduce the Karen language to writing. Mr. Wade is said to have accomplished this feat be- fore he himself had learned to speak it. It stands today as a monument to his genius. He adapted the Burmese alphabet to the expression of Karen sounds, and produced a system of writing which is purely phonetic. Some Karen sounds defy expression with Roman letters, and a Karen who had already learned to read
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The Karens of Burma 55
Burmese could readily pass from that to Karen, while on the other hand, if he learned first to read his own language, he could easily pick up the Burmese ; and to the average Karen, Bur- mese must, for many generations, be of much more value than English.
The language vehicle having been determined upon, the next thing in order was to produce a literature. Among the first books to be translated was, of course, the Bible. This great task was undertaken by Doctor Mason, and an excellent version from the original tongues was produced. An anthology worthy to grace any language was prepared, over two hundred hymns, remarkably true to the idiom of the language and to the genius of the Karen people, issuing from the pen of the first Mrs. Vinton alone. A Karen who seems to have had an extraordinarily comprehensive knowledge of his own language, people, and customs, was found and, although the Karen is thought of as having a rather meager vocabulary, yet with his assistance and at his dictation, a compen- dium of Karen terms and ideas was compiled in five thick volumes, called The Karen Thesaurus, which has not been surpassed to this day and deserves to rank almost as an encyclopedia. Spelling-books were prepared, and arithmetics, geographies, astronomies, and other books in great number. Schools were almost from the beginning a necessity, demanded by the people themselves, for as soon as a Karen adopts the Christian religion he wants two things, first to acquire knowledge, secondly, to improve his physical surround- ings. To this day, they seem almost to think that to be able to read is part of being a Christian, for seldom does a Karen turn to the Christian, religion but in some way he manages to acquire at least a knowledge of the alphabet.
Adoniram Judson was in Burma a number of years before he knew, there was such a people as the Karens. Soon after the first Burmese war, 1822-1824, in which the Tenasserim Province was ceded to the British, a dull and uninteresting Karen, Ko Tha Byu, visited Rangoon, where he contracted a debt which he was unable to pay, and was seized by his creditor, a Burman, and according to Burmese law became his slave. Maung Shive Bay, a Christian, freed him by paying the debt, and took him
56 Following the Pioneers
to Doctor Judson, where he was received as a servant and instructed in the Christian rehgion. This child of the jungle, with a diabolical temper, could already count about thirty lives which he had taken as principal or as accessory. By the power of the gospel he was converted and desired to join the Burmese church in Moulmein. For a long time he was held on probation, during which period he accompanied Dr. Dana Boardman to Tavoy and was there baptized in 1828. He developed great power as an evangelist, and traveled far and wide through the jungle preaching Jesus and winning thousands to Christianity. As a result of this work, when the country was opened after the second Burmese war in 1852, many disciples were found ready and waiting for baptism. Thus the foundations were laid for what was afterward the mass movement toward Christianity in the Bassein, Rangoon, and Pegu districts. The growth of the work was most remarkable. In 1828, Ko Tha Byu was con- verted. In 1831, Doctor Wade did his first touring among the Karens and became acquainted with their won- derful traditions. In 1845, Doctor Binney opened at Moulmein the Karen Theological Seminary which later removed to Rangoon and Insein. The Karen Theological Seminary is the oldest theological seminary in the Orient. In 1852 came the second war between the British and the Burmese, and the lower Delta region from the sea to above Toungoo, including practically all the country in- habited by the Karens, became British territory. Ran- goon was taken by the British, and Rev. J. H. Vinton, the illustrious head of a family numbering a long line of missionaries, hastened to the city that he might minister to the thousands of Karen refugees there in camp. The following table will give an idea of the greatness of our Karen work in 1922:
The Karens of Burma 57
13 Mission stations for Karen work. 918 Organized churches.
217 Ordained preachers. 517 Unordained preachers,
14 Bible-women.
3,289 Baptisms during the year. 56,714 Total baptized membership. 411,175 Total contribution in rupees for the year. 517 Sunday schools. 895 Sunday school teachers. 14,264 Enrolled in Sunday schools. 712 Day-schools. 1,055 Teachers in day-schools.
12 Anglo-vernacular primary and middle schools. 3 High schools. 1 College.
1 Theological seminary. 1 Woman's Bible school. 210 Christian Endeavor Societies. 7,283 Enrolment of the C. E. Society.
This great body of Karen Christians is organized into independent and self-directing churches, and these churches are organized into fifteen Karen Baptist Asso- ciations. These Associations are linked together into two Conferences, Pwo Karen and Sgaw Karen, and these two Conferences are united with the Baptists of other races and the Burma Baptist Convention. There were 2,300 registered delegates in attendance at the session of the Burma Baptist Convention in Rangoon in October, 1921. The Burma Baptist Convention is, of course, entirely in- dependent and self-supporting in all its work, and carries on a most important missionary work in every field within the borders of Burma and beyond these borders into China on the North and Siam on the East.
Each Karen mission station maintains a large Anglo-
58 Following the Pioneers
vernacular school, and nearly every Christian village maintains its own day-school. The Karen Home Mis- sion Societies of the two Conferences are continually opening new general schools in non-Christian villages. The normal school in Rangoon for boys and the normal schools for girls at Moulmein and at Kemendine serve the Karens as well as the other races of Burma. The Karen Theological Seminary at Insein, with its up-to-date equipment, a faculty of the highest standard, and one hundred and fifty students, with a graduating class of forty-two this year, is most enthusiastically supported by the Karen Christians and churches. It is the oldest school with a continuous history connected with the Bap- tist Mission in Burma. It was founded in Moulmein in 1845, less than twenty years after the conversion of Ko Tha Byu, the first Karen Christian convert. From the very beginning, the spirit of evangelism became the dominant characteristic of Karen Christianity, and this has continued to the present day. The seminary sends out annually a score or more young men in various forms of Christian work. When the seminary was opened the only text-book available in the Karen language was the New Testament. It was not imtil eight years later that the complete Bible had been translated into the Karen language. Since then text-books have been prepared, and in addition to the complete Bible there is a commentary in three volumes which covers every book in the Bible, a church history, text-books on science, logic, theology, homiletics, and a Karen Bible handbook, together with numerous other publications. The pastor in a Karen village occupies the position once held by the minister in the colonial New England town. He is the leader of the village in the fullest sense of the term. In the early days of the mission the man who could learn to read
The Karens of Burma 59
and to sing a few hymns went out as a teacher. Many a Hfelong pastorate has been conducted with Httle more than such a preparation. But the times are changing. One of the best and most beloved of the teachers of this seminary who has just retired after thirty-one years' service here, had almost no schooling except the four years he had in the seminary. But the day of such men is past. The changing times have brought education to the villages, and boys from station high schools are found all over the country. Our pastors must be as highly educated as the better men of their communities. To replace this retiring teacher, San Ba, a man who has his B. A. from Judson College and a full course at Newton Theological Seminary, has been secured. Other college graduates are in line for the strengthening of our staff in order that we may be ready to meet the new standard that we are setting for students. Well-trained teachers for well-trained students is our watchword. The Karens love their Theological Seminary and have raised an en- dowment of over Rs. 35,000. The annual contribution of the Karen churches to the Seminary amounts to Rs. 5,000, while the appropriation from the Foreign Mission Society is Rs. 2,000. On December 12, 1921, Dr. D. A. W. Smith, who for forty years, 1876-1916, was the Presi- dent of the Seminary, died. The people all over the country mourn his loss. The Karens proposed to build a new quadrangle of dormitories and to name the build- ings The Smith Memorial Buildings. On February 1, the largest class in the history of the seminary was graduated. Forty-two men took their diplomas. Of these, four men have gone to China to assist Mr. Young in his work among the hill-tribes there. Two others have gone to a new tribe, the Palaungs, in the Shan country, and two others have gone to Siam. These men (with
60 Following the Pioneers
the exception of the last two, who are working among Karens in Siam) are learning new languages, and work- ing among peoples almost as foreign to them as the Karens are to us.
The Sgaw Karen Mission in Bassein is probably the best organized and most successful mission of any de- nomination anywhere in the world. The Sgaw Karen Christians of this mission are organized into the Bassein Sgaw Karen Baptist Association, with one hundred and fifty self-supporting churches, with an average member- ship of one hundred. From the beginning of the Bassein Sgaw Karen Mission under Doctor Abbot, later under Doctor Carpenter, and now under Doctor Nichols, these Karens have had as missionaries men of vision and ability who have led them through great undertakings, both for themselves and for others, and from the beginning these Karens have been developed under lines of self-support. The churches of this Association maintain one hundred and seventy village schools. They also have a boarding- school at Bassein, with an enrolment of 760 boys and girls from the lower standards through the high school. The school has an endowment of one hundred thousand rupees invested in America, and as an additional endowment owns a mill property that was purchased in 1888 for thirty thousand rupees. This property has been added to since by a branch mill and a rice-mill, and the plant is valued today at two hundred thousand rupees. There are twenty-two teachers in the school, including two missionaries of the Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. Music, both instrumental and vocal, has a large place in the school, and there is a well-trained band of fifteen pieces. The large majority of the pupils are boarders, and all boarders are required to do one and three-quarter hours of work each day. Because of
The Karens of Burma 61
their endowment and voluntary contributions the Karens of this field are able to offer a full high-school course to Karen boys and girls, no matter how poor, at a nominal cost of twenty-two rupees per year. The value of the school buildings is seven hundred thousand rupees. There are twenty-six buildings, dormitories for boys and girls, a steam laundry, steam cooking-plant, gymnasium, and other buildings. All the main buildings are of brick and cement and built on the most modern plan. There is not one cent of American money in any of these buildings with the exception of the two houses in which the missionaries live. The finest school and chapel build- ing in the province is the new Ko Tha Byu Memorial Hall just completed at a cost of 432,000 rupees. There is no American money in this building. The building in- cludes, in addition to twenty-two large classrooms, offices, and library, an auditorium seating fifteen hundred. In the clock-tower is a set of American chimes. The entire building is lighted with reflecting electric light from the school's own power plant, which supplies electricity for all the buildings on the compound. Two thousand people were crowded into the building when I preached the dedi- catory sermon Sunday evening, February 5, 1922. Sun- day afternoon many of the pastors and laymen told in their simple way how the money for the building was secured. I have never heard more interesting stories of faith, consecration, and stewardship. Doctor Nichols, the veteran missionary of this field, writes as follows in regard to this building:
What has been our dominant objective in all our work? I think that I can truly say that it has been none other than this: To secure a building which would suitably express our gratitude to God for his incomparable mercies to our people from the earliest times when the first Karen Christian, Ko Tha Byu, a man
62 Following the Pioneers
from our own district, who according to his own confession had" killed not less than twenty-nine people, was so thoroughly con- verted that he became the instrument in leading literally thousands from death into a new life in Christ. Our former building was such a memorial, but, being a wooden structure, could not last much longer than a single generation, while this one should last for several.
Such a building to be suitable should be built with the same regard for beauty as God has himself shown in his creation. It would then be a source of joy to all beholders and thus be- speak his glory. It would show to those who do not know him that professing Christians love God enough to be willing to spend freely their resources of money and efifort, in building a structure for his service, both in worship and in the Christian education of the children he has given them. It would likewise evince Christian harmony, and arouse a desire for such harmony, among those who do not yet enjoy its privileges.
One small church of one hundred and fifty members, mostly poor, has, up to the present time, given over ten thousand rupees, yet when recently asked if they felt in the least impoverished, they unanimously claimed that not only was such not the case, but that many were now palpably better ofif financially than before.
The Bassein Sgaw Karen Association have their own Home and Foreign Mission Societies and a Woman's Society. These societies support sixteen evangehsts and missionaries in remote parts of Burma. The Kachin and Lahu work was developed and is carried on up to the present almost entirely by the Karens. The budget of these societies is between five thousand and six thousand rupees. In addition to the support of their own Karen missionaries, this Association makes liberal contributions to the Burma Baptist Convention, the Karen Theological Seminary, and the Karen Woman's Bible School. The average yearly income of the Karens of this field is less than two hundred rupees. The annual Association meet- ing is held in March with an average attendance of 2,500. The Association is always entertained without cost by
The Karens of Burma 63
the church and village in which the Association is held. In connection with their big financial undertaking for the building of the Ko Tha Byu Memorial Hall and the new girls' dormitory, it should be said that there has been a deepening of the spiritual life and evangelistic effort for their people, and this Association reports 814 baptisms this year. The Pwo Karen Conference, although far weaker in numbers, ability, and means than the Sgaw Karen, has opened more missionary work in Siam and is carrying on an aggressive evangelistic and educational work in that foreign country. Four years ago it was found necessary to transfer the missionary from the im- portant Shwegyin field to Toungoo. It was suggested that Shwegyin be amalgamated with an adjoining field. The Karen Christian leaders at Shwegyin did not deem it wise to give up their school and decided to carry on this mission with its educational and evangelistic work on their own initiative, asking that a missionary be sent them as soon as possible. Learning in 1922 that it was impossible for the Society to furnish them with a mis- sionary, they have organized the Association with one of their own number in charge and will continue an aggressive policy of evangelistic and educational work. This field reported in 1921 eighty-six churches with a total membership of 3,369 and 208 baptisms within the year.
The Karens made a heroic record in the great war. A British official at the close of the war wrote :
The Karens, under the influence of Doctor Nichols of the Amer- ican Baptist Mission in Bassein, have come to regard it as their duty and privilege to take part in the present struggle, and their headmen and the elders of their churches have been their leaders.
In a personal letter this official writes:
64 Following the Pioneers
Dear Doctor Nichols : I ought to have written earlier to con- gratulate the Irrawaddy Division and yourself on the excellent effort they have made in the war. They have shown what high moral and religious ideals can do for a race, and to the teachers and leaders all praise is due. Karens have made a name for steadmess and disregard for wartime difficulties, and they have won the regard of officers in all units. I have called the especial attention of Government to the part taken by the Karens. To yourself personally, I offer my best thanks.
The Karens are especially blessed in the large num- ber of Christian leaders, pastors, teachers, laymen, and women. Probably the most famous is Dr. San C. Po, who grew up in a little village of Ko Su Ka five miles from Bassein. Both his father and grandfather were Christians. His grandfather, because he was a Christian, was dragged around the streets of Bassein with a rope around his waist. San C. Po went to America when he was twelve years old. After graduating from Colgate University, he went to the Albany Medical School. In Albany he lived in the home of a praying Christian Amer- ican woman who had a great influence on his life. Upon his return to Burma he first entered Government service, but later took up private practise. He has always been loyal to the Sgaw Karen Baptist church at Bassein, and is respected by all without distinction of race or creed. In 1916, he became a member of the Governor's Coun- cil, and was later selected by the Christians of all Burma to represent them before Mr. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, when Mr. Montagu visited India in 1917 to study conditions that resulted in the present con- stitutional reforms in Burma and India. When Mr. Montagu planned the Whyte Committee to investigate the situation in Burma before the final settlement of all the issues in regard to the Burma Reform Scheme, Dr. San C. Po's name was especially mentioned by Mr. Mon-
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KAREN PREACHERS At Sgaw Karen Association, Bassein, Burma
The Karens of Burma 65
tagu in a communication to the Governor of Burma as a man who he especially desired should serve on the in- vestigating committee. There is Sidney Luni, of Ran- goon, Barrister at Law, educated in Burma and England, a layman held in high esteem by the Karen race. Thra Po Gyaw, the wise and tactful boarding-master of Gush- ing High School, is an able teacher and a man of deep and active Christian spirit. A year ago he did much to win a Karen carpenter to Christ. That carpenter went back to his village and did much in persuading the village to come into the Christian church with him. With several others, Thra Po Gyaw made a number of trips to the village. Up to the present, forty people have been bap- tized, and a church has been organized. Thra Po Gyaw and a friend gave a large part of their vacation time in this center. A number of the teachers in Gushing High School devoted large parts of their time during vacation to evangelistic touring with splendid results. Mention should also be made of Thra Toe Khut, the efficient head master of the Maubin School, member of the municipal committee and of the educational board of the Irrawaddy circle, and the President-elect of the Burma Baptist Con- vention ; of Miss Nellie Yaba, educated in Burma and America, and for several years in charge of the mission station at Pyapon; of Ma Sein Shin, a young woman of unusual ability, daughter of the pastor of the Pwo Karen Baptist church of Bassein, who, having completed her studies in Judson College, is now studying in the Woman's Christian College in Madras ; and of Mg Myat Pon, the treasurer of Judson College, a layman of most pleasing personal presence and of outstanding ability. Space will not permit telling of all these men and women who are thoroughly interested in and devoted to the exten- sion of the kingdom of God among the Karens.
66 Following the Pioneers
Under God the Karens are today the dominant factor in the triumphant progress of our Baptist work in Burma. Granting all the good that there is in religions of the East, centuries have demonstrated their inability to build char- acter that can meet the needs of the new day. The whole present trend of events is preparing the way for another great mass movement among the Karens toward Chris- tianity. The Karen is an evangelist and a missionary. He will cooperate and sacrifice for great ideals. The Karen has been, is still, and will continue to be the largest factor in the evangelization of the hill-tribes, many of which are related to him. They have already undertaken this great task, and will never put it down until they lay the shining crown of victory at the Master's feet. Chin, Kachin, Lahu, Wa, and a multitude of others will follow the Christian Karen into the fellowship of God, united and welded into one great Christian brotherhood, uplifted, educated, trusted. Truth and character are bound to make themselves felt as deter- mining forces in the new Burma. In conclusion, we must not lose sight of the fact that there is a rapidly growing and virile Burman church, tremendously reenforced and encouraged by the example and comradeship of their Christian Karen brothers. Christianity is stronger than race prejudice. It breaks down every wall and partition. The Christian Burman casts off his former air of supe- riority and gladly accepts the accomplishment of his Karen brother. They have been classmates together in school. The Karen has in this mingling made many close friends among the Burmans, and one of the marvels of Christianity is the leveling and fraternizing so neces- sary to this cooperation and brotherhood. Centuries of Buddhism never have been able to accomplish this, and in contrast see what Christianity has in a few years
The Karens of Burma 67
made possible as exemplified in the annual meeting of the Burma Baptist Convention where all races, Karens, Bur- mans, Kachins, Chins, Shans, meet in beautiful coopera- tion and fellowship, undertaking together great things for the advancement of the kingdom of God in Burma and in all the world.
IV BURMA: TO ALL PEOPLES
" The string of camels come in single file, Bearing their burdens o'er the desert sand;
Swiftly the boats go plying on the Nile, The needs of men are met on every hand.
But still I wait
For the messenger of God who cometh late,
" I see the cloud of dust rise in the plain.
The measured tread of troops falls on the ear;
The soldier comes the Empire to maintain, Bringing the pomp of war, the reign of fear.
But still I wait;
The messenger of Peace, he cometh late.
" They set me looking o'er the desert drear,
Where broodeth darkness as the deepest night.
From many a mosque there comes the call to prayer ; I hear no voice that calls on Christ for light.
But still I wait
For the messenger of Christ who cometh late."
-Anon., in Egyptian Mission News, January-February, 1910.
BURMA : TO ALL PEOPLES
The vision, faith, and evangeHstic passion of the pioneers, together with the zeal of the Christians of Burma, especially the Karens, have pushed our Baptist work to the far frontiers of Burma, and hundreds and thousands of Shans, Kachins, Chins, Lisus, and Lahus have heard the story of the Cross and have been won to Christ and brought into the church.
The Shans
The Shans, because of their numbers and long racial history, are one of the most important groups in Burma. There are a million Shans located chiefly in the Northern and Southern Shan States of Burma and in Southern Yunnan China. The Shan States are ruled by their local chiefs or Sawbwas, subject to the supervision of the Superintendent, a British official. The early history of the Shan Mission is a story of heroism, courage, and faith. Bixby, Brown, Cushing — giants lived in those days. Scholars, translators, pioneers, they blazed the path into the heart of Shan land that we of a later genera- tion have found it difficult to follow.
In November, 1877, Doctor Rose and Rev. J. N. Cush- ing started from Toungoo, the early headquarters of the Shan Mission, on a journey of exploration into the far Shan countrv' . They first went to Mandalay and secured a royal pass from Mindon Min, the Burman king, and then on a four months' trip penetrated far into the Shan States and visited the important city of Mongnai, where
71
72 Following the Pioneers
we have today one of our principal Shan stations. Doctor Rose thus describes the results of this trip :
The Royal Pass. The pass was written on a narrow strip of palm-leaf, about four feet long, and carried in a bamboo covered with red cloth. The very sight of the red-cloth-covered bamboo was enough to secure the respect of the people. The " royal pass " was even more important than we had anticipated. Without a pass we could not have traveled through the country. Without such a peculiar pass as we had, we would not have been allowed to preach and give tracts. We carried no large books, but had one pony loaded entirely with a good assortment of our best tracts.
We journeyed through not less than ten Shan States or Tsaub- waships ; six or seven of these were large, the others small ; altogether, about as large as New England. This is only a part, and I may say a small part, of the Shan country.
Not only did they suffer us to preach, but in their public courts, palaces, and dwellings, asked us to preach. It was our privilege in large towns to preach to large companies, the Tsaubwa or governor in front, with the nobles and court officials among the listeners. The people listened with attention, and treated us with respect and often with kindness.
Thousands of these peoples for the first time have heard of the Eternal God.^
In 1869, Doctor and Mrs. Gushing made another long journey to Kengtung. I made this trip in February, 1922. How much more difficult it must have been for Doctor and Mrs. Gushing in 1869 ! It required four months.
The Shan work is most difficult. The Shans are Bud- dhists, but their Buddhism is more largely colored with animism and nat-worship than that of the Buddhists in lower Burma. We have today five Shan fields : Mongnai, with an area of 15,000 square miles and a population of 200,000; Kengtung, area, 12,000 square miles, popula- tion, 190,000; Taunggyi, area, 7,000 square miles, popula-
^ " Life of Josiah Nelson Gushing," by Wallace St. John.
Burma : To All Peoples 73
tion, 180,000; Hsipaw, area, 9,700 square miles, popula- tion 170,000; and Namkham, area, 6,330 square miles, population, 120,000. Both Kengtung and Namkham have large Shan populations across the borders in China which greatly increase and enlarge the area and population of these fields. We have practically abandoned Hsipaw and have no Shan missionaries at Kengtung. From the cen- tral station in Mongnai and a substation, Loilem, Doctor Gibbons is working alone as evangelist, educationalist, and physician. His medical work has been a blessing to a large district, the schools are evangelistic, and the church already accepts a larger measure of responsibility. Doctor Harper at Namkham, in addition to his medical and evangelistic work, has an important industrial work for the Shans, including carpentry and weaving. A mul- berry-garden of about eight acres has been planted, and in time we hope to see the cultivation of silk on a large scale among the Christian Shans. An official report of the Northern Shan States reads :
The local government's thanks are to R. Harper, M. D., of the American Baptist Mission, for his medical work among the Shans and Kachins in the country around Namkham as also for his seri- cultural experiments.
Medical work Is proving an effective Christian agency among the Shans. Here we find, roughly speaking, peo- ple with but the most meager provision for the relief of bodily needs. Doctor Henderson writes as follows:
Things which are usfed in medicine and which I have per- sonally known to be sought for this purpose are elephant's, blood, rhinoceros' horn, bears' gall, the soft hoof of an unborn colt, the foot of a wildcat, the liver of a man who had committed suicide, besides various roots and stones. . . Superstition too wraps its chilly bonds of terror about these people's lives. Trees, ponds,
74 Following the Pioneers
hills, and rocks are peopled by evil spirits who are constantly on the watch to injure and destroy men and women. A woman went out to the jungle to get wood. She slipped and broke her ankle. When she managed to get home it was vigorously massaged to drive out the evil spirit. Many a single person or whole family have been hounded out of a village or killed because they have been held responsible for some illness which, as witches, they had caused. How great the opportunity to do the blessed work of Christ. Here we find people filled with malaria. We find tuberculosis, bronchitis, both acute and chronic, leprosy, specific diseases, skin disease, all sorts of parasites — one big welter of people needing help and with no prospects of hope except as Christians hear the voice of God and, forgetting themselves, go to the help of those who are suffering.
The Shan Mission needs reenforcements most urgently. We need a physician for Namkham to take the place of Dr. Robert Harper, who will have to retire in a year or two. We need a doctor and evangelist for the Shan Mission in Kengtung, where we have a good hospital building, two residences, and school buildings in this im- portant Shan city in the center of a large Shan population. We should reopen Hsipaw or another station in the Shan country.
This important people must be evangelized if we are to measure up to our full responsibility in Burma. Dr. Ola Hanson, our great Kachin missionary, says:
The Shans have contributed much to the Kachins both in vocabulary and in general ways of thinking, and their influence is an important factor in the development of the Lahus and the other hill-tribes.
Doctor Henderson and other devoted Shan missionaries who know the people and the field, assure me that they are positive that if we could adequately man the field, the next decade would show most hopeful results.
A general summary of conditions among the Shans
Burma : To All Peoples 75
may be gathered from the following quotation from Doc- tor Henderson's report :
The report of the year shows steady growth in all directions, but we look forward to the day when there shall be an earnest and concerted effort to win the Shans to Christ. Political changes are many and swift. The Shan States are to be formed into a federation and ruled from Taunggyi rather than from Lower Burma. The railway is being pushed up nearer and nearer Taunggyi, while the stream of trade is constantly growing. Every- thing, therefore, should be done to push the work in this center, and in the Shan States generally Christianity must not lag behind the trader and the government ; rather it should be in the van, purifying and uplifting the whole surroundings, lest material progress spell a curse instead of a blessing.
The Kachins
The Kachins are a hardy, warlike, independent people. Their present home is in the wild mountains of Northern Burma, through which flow numerous mountain streams, tributaries to the great Burman. rivers, Irrawaddy and Salween. Doctor Hanson, in his book *' The Kachins," says:
The birthplace of the race must be sought among the highlands of Mongolia and on the border-land of eastern Tibet and western Szchuan. Here stood the cradle, not only of the Kachins, but also of the Burmans and other Mongolian tribes. At a remote period the Burmans began to move southward and lay the founda- tions of mighty kingdoms. Later, smaller tribes like the Chins, Nagas, Lahus, and possibly the Karens, followed in their wake, the Kachins holding a central position.
The Kachins are an independent and sturdy people. There is nothing cringing or servile about them. They have never been slaves or tributary to any one. The Kachin regards himself as lord of all he surveys, and holds both Burman and Shan in contempt. He has a
76 Following the Pioneers
keen sense of his personal rights and resents anything that interferes with his Uberty. Such interference or any- thing Hke an insult may easily lead to a long quarrel and bloodshed. In December, 1876, a young Sgaw Karen Christian from Bassein, Bogalay by name, sent out and supported by the Sgaw Karen Christians of Bassein, with Doctor and Mrs. Cushing, opened the Kachin mission at Bhamo. Today we have 1,440 Kachin Christians organ- ized into thirty-seven churches and twenty-eight day- schools with 797 pupils. The work of this Mission is most hopeful, and there is every reason to believe that it soon will be entirely self-supporting. Doctor Hanson, the veteran missionary of the Kachins, has done a notable service in reducing the Kachin language to writing and in translating the Scriptures, school-books, and other literature for these people. His literary work, together with his notable service to the Kachins, has been recog- nized by the British Government, and in 1917 he was awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind gold medal. Doctor Hanson thus concludes his notable book on the Kachins :
The Kachin language having been reduced to writing, therfe is the beginning of a literature, and the number learning to read and write is constantly on the increase. Nearly all the books printed are of a religious nature and for the advance of the Christian religion and Christian education. Most likely the Kachin literature will never be large. Most of those who learn to read will also acquire Burmese, and thus come in contact with a richer store of knowledge.
Several hundred young men from all parts of Kachin land have served in the Kachin Military Police, and thus come in contact with a side of life unknown to them before. This too has been, and is, a civilizing agency. The military discipline, the necessity of doing things according to rules and orders, are things new to the lawless hill-men, and must have a wholesome effect. Many of them have also in the barracks learned to read the written Kachin and acquired other useful knowledge. Thus when re-
Burma : To All Peoples 77
turning to their mountain homes they carry with them new ideas of the world and its ways.
These influences are doing their work quietly but surely. A Kachin people is growing up in ways unknown to their forefathers. They will identify themselves with the larger life of upper Burma. As they accept more of a Christian education, and leave their old superstitions behind them, the natural advance will be toward a Christian civilization.
The Chins
The Chins are a hill-people in the Northwest of Burma. Our principal Chin stations are Haka and Thayetmyo, and an important work for Chins is also being carried on in Pyinmana and Pegu.
The work at Haka was opened by Rev. and Mrs. A. E. Carson in 1899. In 1920, after long years of continuous service marked by privation, danger, sacrifice, dauntless courage, and faith, Mrs. Carson, this heroine of modern missions, left alone, returned to America. Mr. Cope, the missionary at Haka, gives a graphic picture of these years and their fruitage :
Mrs. Carson came to Haka twenty-one years ago. She has passed through two rebellions and has suffered no end of dis- tressing and trying experiences, the hardest of all being the loss of Mr. Carson, who was the first missionary to the Chins. Twenty- one years ago, there were not only no Christians, but the very name was practically unknown ; now there are over seven hundred baptized believers. There are six mission schools. Two com- pounds with comfortable residences, a fine school, and a well- equipped hospital, are the work of Mr. Carson and his successors. Over twenty workers, Chin and Karen, are carrying on among several tribes the work of preaching and teaching. There are hymn-books in four dialects, parts of Scripture in four, and a monthly paper in one. The two final tasks which have occupied Mrs. Carson's time for years now have just been completed, the dictionary and a translation of the historical books of the New Testament. These works are invaluable. Probably the most
78 Following the Pioneers
precious farewell remembrances were the twenty-three baptisms the last Sunday in Haka. A majority of these were the result of the preaching of the first convert in Haka, baptized by Mr. Carson in 1906.
The Talaings
The Talaings, with their capital at Pegu, were once the dominant people in southern Burma. They were sub- jugated, however, by the Burmans in 1753. Our work for the Talaings centers in Moulmein where, in addition to schools and churches, we have the Ellen Mitchell Memorial Hospital, which in the name of the Great Physician ministers to the women and children of all races. There is here a leper asylum with fifty-eight lepers, and the Master's injunction to " heal the sick, cleanse the lepers " is literally fulfilled. There are five churches with a membership of 450.
Indians
There are more than 1,000,000 Indians in Burma. More than one-half the three hundred thousand in Ran- goon, the capital and principal city of Burma, are In- dians. When the projected railroad connecting Burma and India is built, increasing numbers will pour into this rich province from the overcrowded, sun-burned, famine- stricken districts of India. Not only are Indians laborers, and railroad employees, but many of them are leading men in Rangoon and Burma. Our Burma mission is thor- oughly alive to this situation, and we have important centers for Indian work with resident missionaries, school and church buildings in Rangoon and Moulmein. In Ran- goon and Moulmein we have erected brick school build- ings. In Rangoon there are eight hundred Indian boys and girls in attendance, and three hundred and fifty in Moulmein. There is also work for Indians in many of
Burma : To All Peoples 79
our other stations, extending from Tavoy on the far south to Myitkyina on the Chinese border in the north. There is great need for more missionaries for the Indians in Burma. The pathetic feature of the situation is that many cooHes coming to this land have been humble Baptist Christians in their own villages, but like sheep without a shepherd, know not where to turn for spiritual help over here and often fall away. Moreover, among the non- Christian caste people a much more open-minded spirit is found than among the same people in their own land. The hand of caste and custom does not grip them as strongly, and they are more ready, not only to listen to the gospel and assent to its precepts, but to come out openly for Christ
Chinese
There are 350,000 Chinese in Burma. They are open- minded, energetic, generous. Away from their home and entangling customs, they are peculiarly susceptible to the Christian message. These men are carpenters, merchants, and skilled mechanics. They are a thrifty, industrious people and are an increasingly important factor in the life of the province. Work among them will be largely self-supporting. In Mandalay the Chinese Baptists have raised Rs. 4,000 which, with a like amount contributed by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, is en- abling them to erect a building In this important city for the Chinese work. We now have four Chinese evangel- ists, but the work, which is rapidly extending through- out the province, needs a missionary familiar with the Chinese language who can give his entire time to shep- herding the people and supervising the Chinese work. When I was in Burma in October, 1921, a group of Chinese Baptists presented me with the following petition :
80 Following the Pioneers
To the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society,
Dear Sirs : For four years we have been promised a missionary, and we have lived in hopes, waiting patiently all this time. Now that Mr. Grigg has been moved to Mandalay when we were promised his services, and no new and young man has been as- sured us in his stead, we the Chinese Christians of Rangoon are greatly disappointed.
We have about 50,000 Chinese in Rangoon and 350,000 Chinese in all Burma. There is a big and needy field for the ablest missionary. The Methodists have only a small work, and there is plenty of room for both. We greatly need the help and counsel of a missionary if we would have our Baptist work grow as it ought to grow. Our people are ready and opfen for hearing the gospel. We, therefore, pray that you will not delay any longer and cause discouragement to our people. We earnestly seek and pray for a missionary this year.
(Signed) Chinese Baptist Pastor
and sixty of the members.
Anglo-Indians
The Anglo-Indian holds a peculiarly important and delicate position. Rev. F. King Singiser, formerly pastor of the Immanuel Baptist Church in Rangoon, a man who knows the Anglo-Indians most intimately, thus speaks of this important community:
In civic life the Anglo-Indians of Burma are a powerful people, holding positions of high trust and executive responsibility. In the Government service they have become commissioners, district superintendents, and members of the Legislative Council. During my pastorate in Rangoon the Accountant General of Burma, in charge of all the finances of this the richest province in the Indian Empire, was an Anglo-Indian, Mr. Dukoff Gordon, a gen- tleman of rare charm and culture. The permanent administrator of the great city of Rangoon is Mr. C. C. Cameron, an Anglo- Indian of such unusual administrative ability as to receive the official recognition of the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford. Both of these men are loyal members of our Baptist church.
Burma : To All Peoples 81
In education the Anglo-Indians have long since been recog- nized as a determinative factor. Constituted as they are by an- cestry, interpreting the Oriental and the Occidental mind with equal facility, and having the gift of languages, they are naturally qualified leaders of the thought life. They hold many of the most responsible positions in the mission schools of Burma. In the Government's Department of Instruction they have risen to the highest position, that of Director of Public Instruction. The first inspectress of schools in Burma is an Anglo-Indian woman, who was a member of our own Judson College faculty.
In Rangoon we have an Anglo-Indian church with a membership of two hundred and seventy-five and a Sun- day school of one hundred and fifty. The pastor of this church is Rev. V. E. Dyer, a graduate of Colby College and Newton Theological Institution. This church is practically self-supporting. We have also in Rangoon a Boys' Anglo-Indian High School with an enrolment of one hundred and fifty. In Moulmein there is the English Girls' High School and the Anglo-Indian church. Rev. William G. Evans, formerly of the Trinity Bap- tist Church of Cleveland, is pastor. At Maymyo, the summer capital of the province, where there is a large Anglo-Indian population, we have our third church, with Rev. H. P. Cochrane, former missionary at Pyapon, pastor.
Lahu Work
When Doctor and Mrs. Gushing were in Kengtung in 1869 he wrote :
At the house we were visited by Lahus, a savage tribe who live three or four days to the north. The more southern part of this people have been subjected to the rule of the Sawbwa at Kengtung, but the more northern portions are still unsubdued. They worship nats and offer human heads to them. When they wish to make such offerings they watch behind trees and spear the stray traveler, and take the heads home for this purpose.
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Our work among the Lahus was begun by Rev. W. M. Young in 1901, and since then thousands of the Lahus have accepted Christianity. In February and March, 1922, it was my good fortune to visit this field and inspect this work. For forty-one days we were away from the railway, newspapers, letters, telegrams, and all communi- cations with the outside world. We traveled nearly six hundred miles on horseback and had the opportunity of seeing personally a mass movement toward Chris- tianity of surpassing interest. We left Rangoon Wednes- day, February 8, for Kengtung and Yunnan, China. Our party consisted of Dr. C. A. Nichols, of the Sgaw Karen Bassein mission, Rev. W. E. Wiatt, the Field Secretary for Burma, Mr. Ralph Henderson, and the Foreign Secretary. From the rail-head at Taunggyi, we traveled two days in Ford cars, riding 144 miles, nearly all of it over mountain roads. Late Saturday afternoon we met the saddle-ponies and ten pack-ponies for the 150-mile trip from the Nampang River to Keng- tung. For eight days we spent from four to nine hours in the saddle, and arrived at Kengtung on the eighteenth.
The Lahus
Kengtung State, with a population of 600,000, is the largest of the Southern Shan States. The capital, where our mission is located, is a city of 15,000. The native ruling Prince, the Sawbwa, lives here. Kengtung State occupies the great salient where Burma reaches out to Siam and China, and streams of influence from China, Siam, Tibet, and Burma give it a cosmopolitan charac- ter. Shans, Burmans, Chinese, Indians, Kaws, Was, and other hill-people live in little hilltop villages throughout the wooded mountains of the State. The Lahu Associa- tion was in session when we arrived. Eight hundred
Burma : To All Peoples 83
Lahu and Wa Christians were present. I was impressed with the practical nature of the topics discussed during the three days of the Association : " Our schools, how can w^e improve them?" "The Lahu Christian village as an example of unity and industry " ; " Education and the ministry " ; " The need and the call to evangelize " ; " The support of evangelistic work." The chairman of the Association is Saya Po Tun, a missionary of the Karens among the Lahus. He is a graduate of the Bassein Sgaw-Karen High School, and has spent fifteen years in the Kengtung field. He speaks fluently Karen, Burmese, Shan, Lahu, Kaw, and English, and under- stands Chinese and Wa. He is a musician of marked ability, and has translated or composed more than one hundred hymns. He has translated the entire New Tes- tament into Lahu.
The Lahus are a hill-people and dislike to send their children to school in the plains. The mission has secured three hundred acres at Loimwe, a beautiful mountain village and headquarters for the British Government, located fifteen miles from Kengtung on a good automobile road. The land we have secured is three miles from the village and on a slightly lower elevation. The soil is very rich, and an industrial school here in their beloved hills would be popular w^ith the Lahus. would improve their economic condition, and make possible a further step toward self-support. Last year a Lahu teacher w'ith a number of boys spent several weeks clearing the land and planting crops. A splendid harvest resulted.
These people are making a real advance in the matter of self-support. They built their own chapel and school- houses. Twelve villages provide their teachers with rice, and ten villages have adopted the tithing system. In 1921, in addition to the support of their own churches
84 Following the Pioneers
and schools, the Association gave Rs. 900 for the Keng- tung central schools and for the support of evangelists. Here is the report of one of the village churches : Yekko Village — population, 180; church-members, 103; literate, 33 (9 girls, 24 boys) ; cash contributions, Rs. 103 — gave to the teacher 139 baskets of paddy, 87 pounds of salt, 87 pounds of cotton.
We left Kengtung, February 27, for Yunnan, China. Doctor Nichols having returned to Bassein, Rev. J. H. Telford, the missionary at Kengtung, accompanied us. From Kengtung to Mong Lem there is a hard mountain trail. As the nights and mornings in the mountains were very cold, we had to carry not only provisions but heavy clothing and a supply of bedding. We were up every morning at four or four-thirty and in the saddle before seven o'clock. We would ride until eleven and then rest during the heat of the day. Starting again in the early afternoon, we would ride until dusk or until we reached a good camping-place with water, shelter, and pasturage for the horses. We visited four Christian villages on the way, all located on high hills. We arrived at Bana Village, twenty-five miles across the border in China, on March 3. Bana Village is a Christian community of about one hundred people. It is located on a hill having an elevation of 4,000 feet and heavily wooded with pines. It is in the center of the Lahu country, and we propose to establish a mission station here for the Lahu work in China.
The Lahu and Wa Association was in session here, and we had four wonderful days. The meetings were held in a big temporary building very much like a Billy Sunday Tabernacle. The Christian villages in the neigh- borhood had contributed for the entertainment of the Association fifteen steers, fourteen hogs, 8,126 pounds
Burma : To All Peoples 85
of rice, 195 pounds of salt, and 90 pounds of peppers for the curry. The Was and Lahus of this district are accepting Christianity by the hundreds and thousands. Mr. Young and his two ordained preachers, Thra Mg Bu and Ainan, baptized 2,507 between January 1 and March 1, 1922, making a total of 3,351 baptisms for the two years that Mr. Young has been on this field. IMr. Young's assistants have each a remarkable story. Thra Mg Bu, on his graduation from the theological seminary ten years ago, worked among the Lahus on the Keng- tung field for several years and learned to speak two of the languages, Wa and Lahu, fluently. Then he returned to lower Burma as pastor of the Karen Church in the Henzada field. In response to a call for him to assist Mr. Young, this church of less than one hundred mem- bers voted to give him a year's leave of absence, at the same time continuing his salary and paying all his travel- ing expenses to and from this distant mission field, and to carry on the work of the church during his absence. Ainan, formerly a Buddhist priest and opium addict, and later member of a robber band, in 1904 came to Keng- tung with some Lahu inquirers seeking knowledge of the new religion. For weeks he and ]\tr. Young by the help of God fought the opium habit and won. Later, when Mr. Young sent some Lahus into China on a preaching tour, Ainan wished to accompany them. 'Mr. Young re- fused to baptize him because he feared that he would again take up the smoking of opium. However, he was allow'ed to accompany the workers, Mr. Young agreeing that if he held out against the opium habit on the tour and in his own village which he would visit, he would baptize him on his return. He was gone three months, living a con- sistent Christian life all the time, and on his return was baptized. Since 1905 he has won more than 500 con-
86 Following the Pioneers
verts to Christ. He speaks Tai Loi, Shan, Wa, Lahu, and Chinese. He is most apt in the use of homely illustrations, a powerful preacher and a soul-winner.
There are now employed seven Karens, twelve Was, two Lahus, and four Mynchas as preachers and teachers. Salary for the Karens is ten dollars a month, and for the Was, Lahus, and Mynchas four to six dollars.
This is a mass movement with all the usual problems. The principal motives that lead the Lahus to accept Christianity seem to be : The fulfilment of Lahu tradi- tions which are very similar to the Karen traditions; bettering their physical conditions ; relief from oppression by the Shans ; belief that the Christian God is the only true God; the appeal of the Christian doctrine of im- mortality. According to their traditions, God in past ages gave them his word which they transcribed on a rice- cake. But the one in whose care they committed this cake, one day when hungry devoured it, and so the word was lost. Their prophets told them, however, that some day the people of Esu (Esu and Peti were two servants of God, the former standing on his right, the latter on his left, the one being creator of the heavens, the other, of the earth), would come from the south and bring back the word. The prayer was handed down by mouth from generation to generation as follows :
The seed of eternal life is with thee, O God. We, therefore, pray that thou mayest give us that seed. Have mercy on thy servants, and save us from all different diseases, and give us long life, as long as the rocks and hills. Send the children of Esu to come and help us.
With a sufficient number of missionaries and trained teachers and preachers to occupy this field, 10,000 people could be baptized and organized into churches in the next two years. The New Testament has been translated into
Burma : To All Peoples 87
Lahu and is ready for publication. The Lahu hymn-book has just been printed. A strong central school is already established at Bana Village, and throughout the field an eagerness to hear the gospel gives evidence of a ripening harvest. As an illustration of this eagerness, Pu San Lone, a great Wa leader, familiar with Lahu traditions and worship, seventeen years ago sent five ponies to Mr. Young, then at Kengtung, and asked him to come and visit him and preach in the village. Mr. Young was unable to visit this village, but sent a Shan Bible and later some tracts. This leader, a short time before he was killed, gave the Bible to a Wa chieftain. This chieftain, who controls a number of villages with a total of 2,000 houses, recently sent ^Ir. Young a pair of Chinese shoes, a piece of beeswax, some cloth, and six rupees in money, urging him to come to the villages and preach to his people the True Way. The beeswax was to lighten the way on his journey, the shoes were for him to wear, the cloth to wipe the perspiration from his brow, and the money to buy the necessary food for the journey. Mr. Young regrets that he cannot go to this man at once, as his policy now is to confine his efforts largely to those villages which have already become Christian, and to the follow-up work that has already been started in these and the neighboring villages.
As I traveled through these villages and everywhere found these people so eager to hear the gospel, I prayed that American Baptists might have the adequate faith and courage to take advantage of this unprecedented oppor- tunity.
Rev. C. E. Chaney thus describes the annual meeting of the Burma Baptist Convention of 1920 :
In 1920, the Burma Baptist Convention met in the city of Mandalay, the last capital erected and occupied by Burmese kings,
88 Following the Pioneers
the stronghold of Buddhism, The old royal city is surrounded by a moat and a high wall. Entrance is gained by four gates, one in the center of each side of this city one mile square, I entered it and found my way to the old teak palaces, and there stood before the Peacock Throne, one of three thrones in the palace. My mind traveled back to a former capital and Pea- cock Throne in the City of Ava. Its walls and gates were gar- risoned with soldiers armed to the teeth. The streets were filled with gaily dressed ministers and officials. An embassy from the great Empire of the West, wishing an audience with the King, were humiliated by being kept waiting and by having to take ofif their shoes when given entrance to his Majesty. An Ambas- sador from the King of kings and Lord of lords met with the same humiliating experience. His gift of six volumes beautifully bound in gold, the Bible, was spurned, and his request to preach the unsearchable riches of the gospel was refused. The splendor and power of an Oriental court is on every side.
Suddenly the scene changes. All the pomp and glory of the place fades away, and I am left standing alone before a dilapidated throne in a crumbling old palace of teak. Kings and potentates have passed off the stage with their gay retinue of ministers and soldiers. The segis of a great Christian Empire spreads its wings over this province, with protection and liberty. In the distance I hear the tramping of many feet and the songs of many groups in as many tongues. From the north come the Kachins singing to the tune, " The Morning Light is Breaking," from the west the Chins, singing to the tune, " Jesus Shall Reign," from the east comes the Lahu choir which has walked over three hundred miles to attend this meeting and singing, " All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name," and from the south a great host of Karens, Bur mans, and others, singing to the tune, " Onward, Christian Soldiers." Into Mandalay sweeps this great representative multitude, from Haka in the north to Tavoy in the south, from Sandoway in the west to Kengtung in the east, Chin, Kachin, Lahu, Lisu, Shan, Talaing, Burman, Karen, Chinese, Indian, Anglo-Indian, English- men, and Americans. The Burma Baptist Convention is assem- bling, and from the old watch-tower on the wall, I look out over a city with numberless chaungs and pagodas, the insignia of the old order, and also dotted with mission schools, churches, and in- stitutions which are the insignia of the new order. God Almighty has ordained that the old order should give place to the new, and
Burma : To All Peoples 89
this great host, 3,000 strong, is a stirring prophecy that he will bring it to pass. Behold, what a change has taken place since that day when Doctor Judson, the Ambassador of the Cross, stood almost alone pleading for a place in the inn for the Christ Child ! Today the mighty throng is clamoring to crown him King of kings.
V
SOUTH INDIA: THE GOSPEL AND SOCIAL UPLIFT
Shine on, " Lone Star ! " Thy radiance bright Shall spread o'er all the eastern sky;
Morn breaks apace from gloom and night; Shine on, and bless the pilgrim's eye
Shine on, " Lone Star ! " I would not dim The light that gleams with dubious ray ;
The lonely star of Bethlehem Led on a bright and glorious day.
Shine on, " Lone Star ! " in grief and tears,
And sad reverses oft baptized ; Shine on amid thy sister spheres ;
Lone stars in heaven are not despised.
Shine on, " Lone Star ! " Who lifts his hand To dash to earth so bright a gem,
A new " lost pleiad " from the band That sparkles in night's diadem?
Shine on, " Lone Star ! " The day draws near When none shall shine more fair than thou;
Thou, born and nursed in doubt and fear, Wilt glitter on Immanuel's brow.
Shine on, " Lone Star ! '' till earth redeemed,
In dust shall bid its idols fall ; And thousands, where thy radiance beamed,
Shall " crown the Saviour, Lord of all."
-Dr. S. F. Smith.
SOUTH INDIA: THE GOSPEL AND SOCIAL UPLIFT
The South India ^Mission has a long record of mission- ary achievement that places this mission in the fore- front of the foreign mission fields of the world. The heroism, faith, and Spartan determination of the first Telugu missionaries is a story that to this day is a source of inspiration to missionary leaders of all denom- inations.
The South India Mission comprises the Aladras Presi- dency and Hyderabad, an independent Native State as large as Italy, with a population of thirteen million, which is ruled over by the Nizam, a Mohammedan prince. From the first, the work has been almost entirely among the outcaste Aladigas, the lowest of the low. Considering the character and the deplorable needs of these depressed and degraded people and the almost insurmountable dif- ficulties of the field, the numbers brought into the church and their spiritual, moral, intellectual, and social develop- ment under the influence of Christianity are a most strik- ing evidence of the divine origin and character of the foreign missionary enterprise. In the Madras Presidency there are six and a half million people classed as the un- touchables. Out of every ten Hindus, three are treated as being beyond the pale of decent humanity. The restrictions that encompass these unfortunates in their dealings with the higher castes are almost incredible. In nearly everv village the public water-supply is absolutely forbidden to the outcaste population, which numbers one-
93
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sixth of the people of the Presidency. The government report of 1920 says :
The work of the various Christian Mission Societies in giving education to the Panchamas or outcastes is beyond praise. The pioneer work of the missions has not been confined to the educa- tion of the depressed classes in their own schools. By resolutely insisting that members of the depressed classes should be admitted to higher educational institutions under mission control, they have gradually created a body of public opinion in favor of treating these classes as fellow human beings.
Broadly speaking, Hindu society may be said to be divided into three classes : the Brahmin or high-caste Hindu at the top, the Panchama or outcaste at the bottom, and the Sudra in the middle. The Sudras are divided into many subcastes, some of them very low in social status and others occupying a very high position. By occupation they are farmers and artisans for the most part. A strong, sturdy, self-reliant people, they constitute the great middle class in India and are the backbone of Hindu society. Christianity beginning, as ever in its history, at the bottom of Hindu society, is gradually working up- ward. Having laid hold of the outcaste, despised and downtrodden for centuries, and having lifted him up into a new manhood in Christ Jesus, giving him a new social and religious status in the land, it is now rapidly and powerfully permeating the great middle classes, the Sudras. It is the conviction of the most experienced missionary workers that the day is not far distant when we will see an even greater mass movement to Chris- tianity among the Sudras than we have witnessed among the outcastes. When that day comes, it will be like the inrushing of the ocean tides; and the kingdom of God will come with power.
Dr. W. L. Ferguson says:
South India : The Gospel and Social Uplift 95
There have been large movements among the outcaste population and the poor, and the despised and the oppressed by thousands and tens of thousands have been gathered into the church. There is no brighter page in all mission history than that which sets forth the triumphs of Christ in the American Baptist Telugu Mission. God has given us victory, not by strategy of any human kind, but by the gracious movings of his own Holy Spirit in the hearts of men. It was indicated to the missionaries that it was his pleasure for them to reap, and this they have done abundantly. The harvest is still plenteous, but the laborers are few. In addition to the classes which have already been reached in such large numbers by the gospel in our Baptist fields, there are millions of caste people to be won. Many among those are giving unwonted attention to the word of Christ, and there are indications in some quarters that a mass movement among the Sudras may not be very far distant.
Samuel Day, our first Telugu missionary, reached India in 1836. At Nellore, five years later, he baptized his first convert. The first ten years were so fruitless that the Society at home considered the advisability of giving- up the mission and transferring the missionary to Burma. Adoniram Judson, who was in America on furlough, tried to rally the faith of the denomination. He said, " I would cheerfully at my age cross the Bay of Bengal and learn a new language rather than by the lift of my hand vote for the abandonment of this work." Doctor Day, who had returned to America a sick man, protested so vigorously against the abandonment of the mission that it was decided to hold the matter of the future of the mission in abeyance. INIeanwhile Lyman Jewett and his wife volunteered for Nellore and with Doctor Day set sail for India, October, 1848. arriving at Nellore the following April. There was another long period of seed-sowing and waiting, and after a visit to the mission in 1853 by the deputation from America, it was again recommended at the annual meeting of the Society that a
96 Following the Pioneers
letter be written to Doctor Jewett to close up the mission and go to Burma. In the evening during the discussion of the subject, one of the speakers pointed to a map of the world on which the Baptist mission stations were marked by stars and called Nellore the Lone Star Mis- sion. The phrase caught the imagination of Dr. Samuel Smith, the author of America, and before he slept that night he wrote the poem beginning :
Shine on, " Lone Star ! " Thy radiance bright Shall spread o'er all the eastern sky;
Morn breaks apace from gloom and night; Shine on, and bless the pilgrim's eye.
When the poem was read next morning it turned the tide, and the vote was unanimous to continue the mis- sion and send out reenforcements. Meanwhile Doctor Jewett and a little group of Lidian Christians had made a long tour to the north and returning, camped at Ongole. Mrs. Montgomery, in her book " Following the Sunrise," thus describes that morning prayer-meetnig at Ongole :
Very early in the morning, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the year, the little group of Christians climbed the hill to be alone with God. There was nothing dramatic in their action, no consciousness on their part of taking part in a historic scene. They were a little obscure band, quite naturally and simply obeying the desire of their own hearts for an hour of communion and dedication. But generations yet unborn will visit that sacred hill, where in faith God's children, in the name of Christ, took possession of the land of the Telugus. The story of what happened at that sunrise prayer-meeting is best told by the Bible-woman, Julia of Nellore: First we sang a hymn, and Father Jewett prayed. Then Christian Nursu prayed. Then Father read a portion of Isaiah, fifty-second chapter: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace." Then Mother Jewett prayed, then I prayed, and then Ruth prayed. After we had all prayed.
PRAYER-MEETING HILL Ongole, India
PRAYER-MEETING HILL Ongole, India
South India: The Gospel and Social Uplift 97
Father Jewett stood up, and stretching out his hand, said : ' Do you see that rising piece of ground yonder, all covered over with prickly-pear? Would you not like that spot for our mission bungalow and all this land to become Christian? Well, that day will come." Then we all spoke our minds, and just as the meeting closed, the sun rose. It seemed as if the Holy Spirit had lifted us above the world, and our hearts were filled with thanksgiving to the Lord.
After a quarter of a century without evident results another effort was made at the annual meeting in 1862 in Providence to abandon the mission. Doctor Warren, the Secretary of the Board, plead that final action might be deferred until the arrival of Doctor Jewett who was re- turning to America broken in health. Doctor Jewett's undaunted faith saved the mission. He said that if the Society were determined to close the mission he should return alone to. Nellore, there to work and die.
Doctor Jewett's return to India in 1864, accompanied by John E. Clough, marked the beginning of a new day for this mission. In 1867, converts began to come by hundreds. The number of church-members grew to more than three thousand when the famine of 1877 caused a halt in the reception of new members into the church. Evangelistic effort, however, w^as carried on unabated in the midst of the work of famine relief. With the coming of the rains of 1878 and the end of the famine, the mis- sionaries began again to baptize and receive people into the church, and in one day at Ongole, Doctor Clough with six Telugu preachers baptized 2,222, and ten thou- sand were received into the church in one year. This was truly a mass movement and a movement of God. For more than forty years the Telugus have continued to come into the church by hundreds and thousands, and in the last twenty years the reported baptisms have numbered more than sixty thousand.
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India is an illiterate country. Less than ten per cent, of the men and less than one per cent, of the women can read and write. The most obvious method for the uplifting of the untouchables, as indeed of the other de- pressed classes of India, lies in education. In the last quarter of a century the number of Panchama pupils in public institutions of Madras has risen from thirty thou- sand to well over one hundred and fifty thousand; an increase of four hundred per cent. It is moreover en- couraging to notice that whereas in 1892 there were only eleven primary schools for girls of the depressed classes in the Madras Presidency, there are now one hundred.
In our Telugu Baptist Mission, with its work largely among these outcaste and depressed classes, the matter of education is one of the most urgent importance. An illiterate church could never be a strong church. To edu- cate the children of our Madiga converts and secure a sufficient number of educated men as pastors and leaders of the Telugu churches was a problem to which the early missionaries gave immediate attention. The contribution of American Baptists to the educational uplift of India has been notable and has won the gratitude of the people and appreciative recognition of the Government. In the South India Mission we have today 912 elementary schools, fourteen secondary schools other than high schools, four high schools, five training-schools, and one theological seminary. In theological training we coop- erate with the Canadian Baptists, who are also working for the Telugu people in a territory adjacent to our field. In these 936 institutions there are 25,625 boys and girls and young men and young women receiving an education in which the Bible holds an important place.
There are three high schools for boys, one at Nellore,
South India : The Gospel and Social Uplift 99
one at Ongole, and one at Kurnool. As the primary ob- ject of these schools is the training of Christian boys, it is the poHcy to keep the enrolment Christian in fact and spirit. Recognizing that the less favored of the population are in greater need of the benefits of education than the more favored classes, it is the policy of these schools to enroll the students in limited numbers in the following order: Christians, Panchamas (outcastes), j\Io- hammedans, Sudras, higher castes, and Brahmins. The Coles Memorial High School at Kurnool and the Coles Akerman Memorial at Nellore owe their beautiful build- ings to the generosity of Dr. J. Akerman Coles, of Scotch Plains, New Jersey. At Nellore, in order to make the Christian impact of the school more personal, the enrolment has been reduced from 732 to 400. In Kur- nool, 102 of the 392 boys are Christians. I spent one morning in the Ongole High School visiting the Bible classes. I found one class in the midst of an oral exam- ination and was much pleased at the intelligence with which the boys answered the questions. Boy Scout craft has been introduced into all the high schools. With its emphasis on the dignity of labor, unselfish service, and higher type of manhood, the Boy Scout Movement is playing a vital part in character building which is the aim of all missionary education. Athletics have their place in the life of these three high schools, and they have each held a place of leadership in their respective districts.
The Girls' High School in Nellore has an enrolment of eighty-five. A company of girl guides has been or- ganized, and the girls are full of enthusiasm at being a part of a world movement. The course of study, with the Bible holding a prominent place, is building well for the future Telugu womanhood. One of last year's gradu-
100 Following the Pioneers
ates entered the Christian College for Women in Madras, and two others have entered the Woman's Medical Col- lege at Vellore. Dr. Y. Nandamah, one of the Jubilee guests of the Woman's Society in 1921, is a graduate of this school and the Ludhiana Medical School.
The Mission has training-schools for women teachers in Ongole and Nellore and a normal school for men with 157 students at Bapatla. The Bible holds a central place in the curriculum of these schools, and each class studies the Bible every day. The 912 mission schools, in addition to their educational work, serve as centers where children and parents can be gathered together for Christian pur- poses.
Working among a people so economically destitute in a country where an age-long social system has instilled a false idea of the degradation of labor, it has been necessary to emphasize the value of vocational and indus- trial training, and considerable industrial work is being done in the various schools in most of the mission stations. Vocational schools for boys have be^n opened at Nel- lore and Kurnool. At Nellore the government has re- served for students of our ^agricultural courses land which up to this time has lain waste, but is capable of being brought under cultivation. Each student will be assigned five acres upon completion of his course provided he wishes to become a farmer. This land will be his for- ever on condition that he cannot mortgage it, lease it, or sell it. If he attempts any of these it will revert to the Government. This course helps the boys in meeting their school expenses (for they are paid for work done) and helps them physically and in development of real manhood. Considering the fact that this is India, and that a few years ago to insist on any physical labor in our boarding-schools was to invite a rebellion, we are
ENGINE SHED AND FREIGHT HOUSES Kharagpur, Bengal-Orissa
CROWD ON BANK AT BAPTISM Kavali, India
THE GOSPEL AND THE PLOW Coles Vocational School, Kurnool, India
South India: The Gospel and Social Uplift 101
much gratified at the way the boys are now entering into this work.
At the Kurnool school students are taught weaving, carpentry, farming, and alHed industries. Here they are given training that will make it possible for them to enter into some village trade with little difficulty. They are most interested in carpentry, and at the opening of the new school year it is expected that sixteen car- pentry benches will be in use. All our Christian boys come from the farming class. The school has sixty acres under cultivation, besides three acres of garden. These boys are learning by doing. There is also another class of young men. the unfortunates who have had no chance to go to school at all, and who on arriving at manhood find that they are virtually slaves, bound by custom, debt, and ignorance to a life of a village coolie. For such as these it is hoped to organize special classes, that will give them a degree of education and help them to improve their condition.
In addition to these schools, we are cooperating with other evangelical denominations in Madras Christian Col- lege, a missionary institution w^hich has been of large in- fluence in the educational life of the Madras Presidency.
Doctor Woodbury, of the Madras Christian College, in the report of 1921 says :
Throughout my experience as a missionary in the Telugu country, I have frequently been aware of the splendid influence of the colleg'e through the friendly attitude on the part of the graduates whom I have met in official life. A marked evidence of that attitude was seen in the recent debate and vote in the Madras Legislative Council on the proposed Conscience Clause to be introduced into the Grants-in-Aid Code. The motion was practically defeated by the alumni of this institution. Man after man arose in the Council and related his experience of religious instruction in the College and gave it as his testimony that it
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had been a formative influence in the strengthening of his own character. After six months of service in the College, I am more than ever convinced that the Madras Christian College is one of the first agencies in the land in bringing about the con- summation of missionary endeavor in this land — the Christian- izing of India — and I rejoice that American Baptists have a share in the glorious enterprise.
The Woman's Society is also cooperating with seven American and six British Societies in the Woman's Chris- tian College of Madras. This is the first Christian col- lege for women in Madras Presidency. The enrohiient numbers 128 students from the Tamil, Telugu, Syrian Christian, Malayalam, Kanarese, one from each of the following : Bengal, Deccan, Maratha, Ceylon, and Burma. Among the last nine young women to receive degrees, three were awarded gold medals. This year there are seven Baptist students in the college, and three graduates are studying in England. All the students are regular attendants at the services of the Day Memorial Church, Madras. The spirit of Christian service is strong. One enterprise of the past year has been the school for the servants' children, carried on by the students. They also go out in groups for Sunday school work among children who otherwise would receive no Christian teach- ing. There is urgent need for a Christian training insti- tution for graduates, and the Council of the Woman's Christian College is asking the cooperating missions to undertake this work. The Woman's Society also coop- erates in the Vellore Medical School, one of the two medical schools for women in the Indian Empire.
The most important institution in the Telugu Mission is the Theological Seminary at Ramapatnam. There are fifty-six students here, and in addition to the regular theological work for the men, there is a course in physiol-
South India : The Gospel and Social Uplift 103
ogy, first aid, hygiene, sanitation, Bible study, education of children, sewing, kindergarten, and Sunday school work for the wives of the students. These young In- dian " theologs," in addition to their courses in theology, homiletics, and exegesis, are lined up every afternoon for football, baseball, tennis, and various Indian sports, so that they will enter upon their work with physical vigor and moral stamina that will stand them in good stead as preachers and leaders of the churches through- out South India. In order to bring the seminary students nearer to the center of population and in closer touch with the Hfe of the people, it is proposed to move the Seminary to Bezwada. Bezwada is the center of the densest Christian population in India. It is centrally located for our own field and for the field of the Canadian Baptist Mission and is the place of all places to build a theological seminary. The site selected for the build- ings is one mile out of the city on the banks of the Kistna, with towering hills in the distance. There is a very strong racial sentiment in India at the present time, in which the different races of India are most pronounced in their racial pride and race solidarity. The Telugus are agitating for a separate Telugu Province. The Madras Provincial Government has authorized the es- tablishment of a Telugu University which will probably be located at Bezwada. The Telugu Missions Conference, a representative of the missions working in the Telugu field, has voted to establish a Union Christian Telugu College, and it is likely that this institution will also be established here. The Mission has repeatedly urged upon the Board the necessity of establishing a station in this important Telugu center, and this will undoubtedly be done as soon as the necessary men and money are avail- able. We have a strong independent Baptist church
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here now with a good stone church building which they are outgrowing. The work in Bezwada has been carried on under the supervision of Rev. and Mrs. Frank Kurtz, of Madira, South India. We visited Bezwada in 1921 and at a service in this church we were presented with the following address of welcome:
Rev. and Dear Sir and Madam :
We, the Baptist Christians attached to the American Bap- tist Church, Bezwada, do hereby offer you our hearty welcome, and submit our heartful thanks to God for sending you to our midst.
We do understand and appreciate the great sacrifices you have made in leaving your native land and friends to come to this distant land which is over 11,000 miles off.
We are utterly strangers to you and so we are very thankful to you for your kind visit to this station, though it is not a Baptist mission station.
It will not be out of place for us to mention a little about this station. This Bezwada was only a village some forty years back with a population of about six or seven thousands, though it has its historical and religious importance in the estima- tion of our Hindu brethren. Now the railway junction made the town grown to forty-five thousands in the last census, and it can be fairly called the first internal trade center for Andhra Country. The town is daily growing in its importance by drawing people from the surrounding districts. We hear that several joint- stock concerns are being floated for establishing industries such ■ as cement factory, oil factories, and spinning- and weaving-mills, etc., the capital cost of these being Rs. 30,000,000, about ten mil- lions American dollars; as such it is sure to see the place grown very soon. The grant of a separate Government for the Telugu- speaking districts is only a matter of time, and Bezwada is talked of in all the important places to be the seat of the future Government. Under these circumstances Bezwada has a bright future to count on.
Coming to the point of the growth of the Baptist Church under the shelter of American Baptist Mission here, we beg to say that some eighteen years back the church was only thirty
South India ; The Gospel and Social Uplift 105
or forty strong, and after your Board has sanctioned the present shelter, which is a substantial building costing about six thou- sand rupees in the good old days, has begun to grow and has now two hundred and fifty communicants, and the church building is insufficient even for ordinary Sunday meetings. The church is a self-supporting church under your shelter and under the good and priestly guidance of our missionaries, Rev. and Mrs. Kurtz, for whose services we are very much indebted.
We must have to mention here an important point about the Baptist Christians scattered in all corners of the town number- ing about one thousand or more adults ; these are people who came from various Baptist mission fields in the Telugu area, mostly from central districts for which your country is pouring in funds daily. These require to be taken care of immediately as they are unattached to any church, though they made Bezwada as their permanent abode owing to the increased labor facilities growing daily. .There is no person to guide them to a shelter and give them spiritual food.
As we are too poor we could not take up any such responsibility on our shoulders to do anything for them nor for their children. We are praying God, that he may do something for us who are under your shelter and who are scattered around your shelter uncared for, and now we believe that our prayers are heard by our Lord who sent you to our midst to see things personally and to place them before your Board to make this a mission station immediately, to meet the requirements of these helpless and destitute Christians scattered in a very important town.
We do further believe that your visit will surely grant us the boons which we are expecting for this place in the shape of a Union Christian College and seminary at an early date.
We humbly and respectfully beg to request you to carry with you our humble gratitude to your land of Christian devotees and tell them that we. the depressed classes here under, the rigid caste system, are very much indebted to the noble-minded Christians who are pouring in funds from the remote corners of the West for our elevation.
With regard to the political situation, we want to submit to you that God gave us strength to declare ourselves loyal to the British Crown, and we hope the present situation will soon turn out into a calm atmosphere giving better room for God's work.
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In conclusion, we thank you and Mrs. Robbins very much for your kindness in hearing our address.
We pray for your long life and prosperity and happy voyage home. We beg to remain,
Rev. and Dear Sir and Madam,
Yours most obediently,
Members of the Baptist Church, Bezwada.
Bezwada, 27-12-21.
The difficulties involved in bringing about the uplift of the depressed classes of India can hardly be realized with- out first-hand knowledge of the conditions of the country. There is urgent need of implanting the seeds of elemen- tary sanitary knowledge. It has been well remarked that the primitive condition of sanitation in rural India amounts to virtually no sanitation at all. The value of fresh air, pure water, and wholesome food, as well as the elements of domestic and personal hygiene, have to be brought into the every-day life of the population. Some idea of the scope which exists for improvement in this direction is afforded by a study of the Indian death-rate. It has been calculated that every year no fewer than two million Indian babies die, while many others survive only to grow up weak and feeble, from unhygienic surroundings during infancy. Fifty per cent, of all children in Bombay die before reaching the age of eighteen months, while in Delhi one infant in every four born in 1919 was doomed to die within the first year. Very little can be done to remedy this state of afiFairs until the support of Indian womanhood can be enlisted. Upon the Indian woman depends the success or failure of every attempt to introduce hygienic principles into In- dian homes and to improve the conditions of childbirth, so that there can be no doubt as to the advisability of
South India : The Gospel and Social Uplift 107
educating the female population. There is so much igno- rance, indifference, and poverty on the part of the In- dian women at large, and so much opposition on the part of the indigenous midwives who consider their livelihood at stake, that the progress which is being made is very slow. In the United Provinces, a committee has been constituted to discuss the best methods of sustaining the Lady Chelmsford League for maternity and child welfare, while in Madras a private hospital for children, managed entirely by Indian doctors, constitutes a tangible sign of growing interest in one of India's greatest health problems. In almost every province a Board of Health is either constituted or contemplated and there is a marked tendency on the part of District Boards to appoint full- time health offcers for their localities. The employment of Sanitary Inspectors in growing numbers is another propaganda, under the control of the Sanitary Commis- sioners, in Bombay, Bihar, and other Provinces to bring about an increased knowledge of hygiene among the leaders of the community. It is hoped that the extension of sanitary education of India will proceed at a more rapid rate with the transfer of this important branch of nation- building to the control of elected ministers of the people. Notwithstanding all that the British Government is do- ing through its hospitals and dispensaries, it is estimated that there are nearly one hundred million people in India without adequate medical aid. The Telugu Mission has established, in the name of the Great Physician, seven hospitals and eleven dispensaries in which one hundred and forty thousand patients were treated last year. At Nellore, Dr. Lena A. Benjamin writes in regard to the Woman's Hospital there :
We have been cheered by the return to us of Miss Nandamah and Miss Thanthamma. who have finished their medical courses
108 Following the Pioneers
at Ludhiana. These two Indian Christian young women have been of great assistance in the work. They are professionally well qualified and have been able to win and hold the confidence of the people. The wards have been crowded the whole year, and there were several months when, if there had been twice the number of beds, they would all have been occupied.
At Hanumakonda there is the Victory Memorial Hos- pital. Here Dr. J. S. Timpany has been reenforced by another one of the young people of our mission, Miss Minnie Rungiah, who has completed the subassistant's course at Ludhiana and has largely taken over the out- patients and dispensary work among women. Doctor Timpany relates the following incident which illustrates the type of experience of the medical missionary practise :
Our wards have received chiefly patients in serious condition, many being victims A village quackery and maltreatment. Sev- eral serious acciden' cases have found refuge here. A Brahmin boy about fourteen years of age recently fell into an empty well about forty-fiv : feet deep, and lay on the rock at the bottom piteously ca' .ing for help. The caste people gathered about the well, but no one would venture down. Finally, a poor Madiga came along and went to the rescue. The boy was lifted in the arms of the despised outcaste and put into a basket, and pulled up. On reaching the surface he said : " Now I'm going to live. Take me to the mission hospital." For a time we were not sure that he was going to live, for with his arm and leg both broken — compound fractures — loss of blood from a lacerated vein, and suffering from shock, his condition was most serious. He is now making a good recovery in our ward. The temple well has probably been made ceremonially pure again from contact with a man who would risk his life in service to a suffering boy.
At the Etta Watcrbury Hospital, Udayagiri, the work has been in charo^e of Mrs. Francis Bai, a little Indian woman who har done a remarkable work in the absence of Dr. F. W. Stait. Thirty-seven operations were per- formed and 8,094 treatments given during the past year.
WARD IN THE NELLORE HOSPITAL Nellore, India
DOCTOR KIRBY'S ASSISTANT TREATING
A LEPER
Jorhat, Assam
South India : The Gospel and Social Uplift 109
The acting district medical and sanitary officer, upon com- pleting an inspection of the hospital, reported as follows :
I visited the hospital this morning and found everything very- clean and tidy. Mrs. Frances Bai, who is in charge, very kindly took me around and showed me everything. I am very pleaded with all I have seen. Every success to the institution.
The hospital at Udayagiri is filling a very great need in the backward section of our mission and is held in high esteem by the people throughout the community. Work on the new Woman's Hospital at Mahbubnagar is well under way, and it is hoped that this institution, which will mean so much to the women of this Mohammedan State, will be completed early in 1923. A changed atti- tude on the part of many caste people toward Christianity through the medium of the medical work is being noted.
In the second category of the depressed classes in the Madras Presidency come the criminal tribes. India has a population of 319 millions, four millions of whom are thieves. Due to the caste system, which offers no alternative to a young man but to follow the footsteps of his father, the son of a thief invariably becomes a thief. There are twenty-five of these criminal tribes in the Madras Presidency. Twenty thousand criminals are registered under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1911. The Government's work among the criminal tribes in Madras, as elsewhere, has been mainly directed to granting them land and establishing settlements which secure their eco- nomic freedom by making them independent of the neces- sity of earning their living by crime. Their children are educated and shown advantages of a civilized life. The more reliable of the settlers are given work as wardens; and it is the policy of the Government to exclude as far as possible the activities of the regular police from the
110 Following the Pioneers
settlement, as they are a continual reminder of the old criminal life of the tribe. Five thousand of these criminals have been restricted by the Government to these settle- ments, the largest of which is Kavali and is in charge of Rev. S. D. Bawden, a missionary of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. The Kavali settlement, with twenty-five criminals, was started in 1912 by Rev. Edwin BuUard, and when Mr. Bawden took charge in 1914, the settlement numbered 550.
The settlements represent varying degrees of criminals from the Donga Erukalas, just ordinary sneak-thieves, to Donga Dasaries, the more vigorous type of criminal, who are the " hold-up " men of India. Upon arriving at the settlement every family is given a house in which to live. For those who make good at the Kavali settle- ment and show a desire to live an honest life, the Govern- ment has reserved three thousand acres of irrigable land at Allur, eighteen miles away. Each adult transferred to Allur is given an acre of land which ultimately becomes his own property. He is also loaned money by the Government without interest for the purchase of stock and necessary equipment with which to work the land. The members of the Allur Settlement live on practically the same terms as Christian people in the neighboring villages, and about one-third of the members have been baptized and belong to the Allur Baptist church.
At Bitragunta, eleven miles from Kavali, there is an- other group of criminals who have been sent from Kavali but are not quite so trustworthy as the Allur settlers, and are therefore kept closer at hand. Here, as at Allur, they work in their own fields. They are also employed on the roads, repairing and building the highways. The Settlement at Bitragunta, to which 425 former members of the Kavali Settlement have been sent, is in charge of
South India: The Gospel and Social Uplift 111
a Telugu Christian, Mr. David Nathaniel, a trained agri- culturist and a graduate of the Ongole High School and of Ramapatnam Theological Seminary. Each morning a roll-call is held, at which the Bible is read and a brief exposition is given by one of the staff; then prayer is offered, and all join in repeating the Lord's Prayer. Sunday is a holiday from work, but the hours are broken up and trouble averted by the requirements that all attend Sunday school and the preaching service in the after- noon. Many of the criminals who when they first come, make objection to listening to Christian truths, later show their approval by earnest attention at these services.
Every boy and girl between six and twelve years of age is required to be in school. At each of the three settlements a night-school is provided for the young men who work during the day, and at Kavali and at Bitra- gunta there is a similar school for the young women. Firmness, justice, kindness, work, education, and vital Christianity are the key-words in the management of the criminal settlements. It is the firm conviction of the superintendent that reform of these criminal classes is impossible aside from the teaching of moral and religious truths. He frankly believes that the Christian religion offers the only true solution of the problems.
One of the ways in which the Christians of South India are being helped to a realization of a community consciousness is in connection with the cooperative credit movements. The Government is doing much to encour- age the people to establish cooperative stores, cooperative societies, and cooperative banks. The Y. M. C. A. is also helping to train the people along these lines, and thus the Christians are being taught lessons of thrift and economy and at the same time are getting a training in business methods. Rev. W. J. Longley speaks of the
112 Following the Pioneers
newly organized society at Mahbubnagar as a means for the Christians to get away from '' the ruinous rates of interest charged by the bazaar money-lenders." The work is being advanced very greatly by the assis- tance of the Christian Central Bank in Madras. As schools of integrity and thrift, these societies, if care- fully supervised, promise much for the future. The Lon- don Mission at Anantipur District has set a man apart to look after this economic work for the Christians in that district.
While all our institutional work is permeated with evan- gelistic fervor and our schools, hospitals, and philan- thropic institutions are evangelistic agencies of major importance, in all of the eighteen stations there are men and women who devote their entire time to direct and continuous teaching and preaching in their endeavor to win men and women to Jesus Christ.
The Telugu missionaries enjoy above everything else the privilege of touring their districts and preaching the gospel directly to the people, in the homes in Christian and non-Christian villages. Rev. A. M. Boggs, from the difficult field of Mahbubnagar, says the opposition to the gospel in his field is seemingly almost insurmountable, and " I am relieving myself of all administrative duties as much as possible so as to give undivided attention to actual touring among the villages and preaching." Most of the missionaries report that in this period of political, intellectual, and social unrest, the people are giving the gospel a more attentive hearing than ever before. The automobile is enabling the missionary to cover his field more rapidly than in former days. Dr. J. A. Curtis, Rev. W. S. Davis, Dr. W. A. Stanton, and Rev. L. C Smith all testify to the multiplying power of the automobile in doing evangelistic work. Under date of March 30, 1922,
Winpk.
STAFF OF UNION MEDICAL COLLEGE Vellore, India
GIRLS' TRAINING-SCHOOL GRADUATES Nowgong, Assam
South India: The Gospel and Social Uplift 113
Mr. Smith, who is principal of the Coles Akerman Memo- rial High School at Nellore, writes :
We have organized two new churches on the Nellore field since you were here December 23. We were out to a village last night twelve miles from Nellore. A week ago five men from that village came to our bungalow and begged us to come, as there were nine men there who were anxious to become Christians. We went and held a great meeting, and thirteen openly con- fessed Christ. A few more visits will doubtless result in estab- lishing another church, as it seemed that the whole village was on the verge of coming. This is but an example of what we are expecting all over this field.
The responsibility connected with such a movement is enough for one man, but in addition to this Mr. Smith has charge of the high-school work, preaches every Sun- day night in English to a congregation including judges, lawyers, and students, is supervising the construction of a new building for the Bible Training School and an addition to the hospital, serves on numerous committees, the Municipal Council of Nellore, the District Educational Council, and is honorary visitor to the Government Agri- cultural College.
Rev. Wheeler Boggess, who returned to South India at the special invitation of the Telugu Convention to give his entire time to evangelism, reports his first complete year as general evangelist. He has been holding evangel- istic meetings among non-Christians, speaking at conven- tions, summer schools, and harvest festivals, touring with missionaries on their fields, and carrying the gospel to all classes of the people. Enthusiastic reports come from all over the mission as to the great value of the work done. Through his zeal and untiring efiforts a great impetus has been given to evangelistic work throughout the Mis- sion, and we may expect to see larger results year by
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year. Fourteen stations were visited twice and four stations three times. Eleven associations and one con- vention were attended. Summer schools were conducted in eleven different stations and ten different mission fields toured from four to fifteen days each. Four hundred and sixty sermons or addresses were given in Telugu. For six months of the year Rev. D. Arogiam, a Telugu preacher, was associated with Mr. Boggess as fellow evangelist and proved himself a most efficient worker.
The evangelistic forward movement of the mission which was inaugurated four years ago, has issued in a number of campaigns which have had a tremendous in- fluence on the Christian and the non-Christian com- munity. The Christian community has come to a grow- ing sense of its responsibility for the evangelization of the Telugu people. In the past two years 6,851 have been baptized on confession of their faith in Jesus. In some cases it has been reported that hundreds more might be baptized and admitted into church fellowship if there were pastors to shepherd them.
Rev. E. E. Silliman spent 121 days in 1921 on tour, visiting and holding services in every one of the 160 villages in the Narsaravupet field where there are Chris- tians. Rev. John Dussman in his annual report says :
One hundred and thirty days were given to touring. Then there were also visits to near-by villages in the station. It was our privilege to receive many converts by baptism into the church during the year. One church added sixty-one to its number, another eighteen, another forty-six, and so on until a total of 240 were received for baptism. This is the largest number bap- tized in one year for over forty years. Two new churches wfere organized.
On our visit to our South India stations we reached Ongole from Calcutta at three o'clock in the morning of
South India: The Gospel and Social Uplift 115
December 19 and were met at the station by ten mis- sionaries and a company of Telugu Christians with a band. After a few hours' sleep we began the inspection of the work in this wonderful mission station where they have so signally been blessed of God in the past forty years. In the first place we went through the Clough Memorial Hospital, just reaching completion. This is the largest hospital in the South India Mission, and will minister to a population of 330,000. We listened to the Bible classes in the boys' school and then visited the girls' school, and the Sudra boarding-school. Of this school Miss Ursula Dresser says :
If you knew of the prayers and years of faithful work on the part of our touring missionaries that this Sudra Boarding School represents, you would understand, I know, why we are so eager for its future growth. There are now eight little Sudra girls in this department, but this school has such possibilities of strengthening the work among the caste people that we look upon it with faith that at last these caste people are to accept Chris- tianity in larger numbers than ever before.
From this school we went to the Industrial School for girls under Miss Kate W. Failing's management, and then to the Industrial School for boys, conducted by Miss Amelia Dessa. There is a night-school for boys that has an enrolment of eighty young men, all of whom are try- ing hard to secure an education under the most discour- aging circumstances.
The Ongole field has 193 village schools, 102 Sunday schools, and a church-membership of 12,225. At the time when the first election in India took place, 1921, a former member of the Ongole church, Mr. A .T. Palmer, now Head Master of the Cokanada High School of the Cana- dian Baptists, was elected to the Madras Legislative Council. Mr. G. Vanderman, the Head Master of the
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Ongole High School, is also a member of the legislative assembly, so that these two Baptist Telugu laymen are now in positions of responsibility in the Madras Presi- dency with its 43,000,000 people. One afternoon the Christians of Ongole gave a garden-party in honor of these two men, and prominent officials of the city and dis- trict, together with many leaders from the Hindu and Mohammedan communities, were present. Rev. J. M. Baker, our missionary at Ongole, was chairman of the meeting, and many look upon this occasion as giving birth to a new day of promise for the people among whom our missionaries have worked with such enthusiasm for nearly half a century.
We spent Christmas Day with our missionaries at Madras, being the guests of Dr. and Mrs. W. L. Fer- guson. I preached Sunday morning at eight o'clock to our English-speaking Baptists and again at ten o'clock to the Telugu church, four hundred people crowding the building. At the conclusion of the service, twenty-seven Telugu young men and women were baptized and re- ceived into the church. The Telugu pastor of this church is a graduate of Madras Christian College, a man of out- standing ability and marked qualities of leadership. The Christmas offering of this congregation was Rs, 104, representing 208 days' wages. In the evening I preached in the Day Memorial Church. This church is composed of English-speaking Indians, nearly all of them college graduates or college students. There arc more than 4,000 college students in the city of Madras, and Doctor and Mrs. Ferguson have opened their home most gener- ously to these young men. A devoted Baptist layman and his wife have recently given $15,000 for the erection of a student hostel. This will enable us to minister in a larger way to the student life of the city.
South India: The Gospel and Social Uplift 117
There is no subject of more consequence to Christianity in India than that of the independence of the Indian church. In these days of intense nationaHsm there is a growing desire on the part of the Indian Christians to manage their own affairs independent of the missionary. The question of the transfer of responsibihty from the Mission to the church is one of the major problems of foreign missionary administration. In this matter the South India Mission have taken commendable action. At the Mission Conference in 1918, when the Foreign Secre- tary was in India, the Telugu Mission voted to transfer all the work of the Kandukur field to the Home Mission Society of the Telugu Baptist churches. The Telugu churches have accepted this responsibility with deep seri- ousness, and are carrying on the work in this field in a most acceptable way. This movement toward self-gov- ernment has justified itself, and undoubtedly another field will, in the near future, be transferred to the Conven- tion. The Secretary of the Telugu Home Mission So- ciety, an Indian, reports as follows in regard to Kan- dukur :
It is a joy to know how the churches have taken up this work. There is a universal feeling of ownership on the heart of every Telugu Baptist Christian — a new responsibihty, a new love. They have become unselfish and their vision is broadened since they have got to be beyond their own church interests. Some churches have regular days for praying and talking about this work. They have invented several methods of raising funds for this work. Some, for example, have pledged a certain percentage of their monthly income, and others a certain amount for every member of the church. Women's Societies and Christian Endeavor So- cieties have done the same. A letter has come from Mrs. John Rangiah, Natal, Africa, saying that their Women's Society wants to support a preacher or two in Kandukur field. The Bapatla Senior Christian Endeavor Society for training-school students is regularly contributing not less than Rs. 8 per month except dur-
118 Following the Pioneers
ing vacation months. The bachelor students of the Ramapatnam Seminary have set up what they call a " Kandukur box " into which every student puts a little rice before he cooks his food. The Nalgonda church has appointed, for the whole or a part of the year, a man to go about that mission field to speak on behalf of the Kandukur work.
The Christians of Kandukur field itself are feeling the respon- sibility of the work more than others. There are many who are doing voluntary service. They go about witnessing for Christ, teach Sunday schools, and help in various other ways. There are not less than twenty such voluntary workers. Many of them come to the monthly meetings at their own expense.
The non-Christian people of Kandukur have cooperated much in the work. If it is not due to faith in the religion of Jesus Christ, at least it is due to patriotism. They feel glad that their Christian friends are having self-government, although it is of the religious form. It is impossible to describe what the Hindus have been doing for Kandukur Christians. When the monthly meetings are held in the villages, the Hindus of the village gladly offer their help. In several villages where the meetings were held, the headman of the village took special interest in the Christians and helped them.
The comprehensive scope of the work of the Telugu Mission, its solid character, and the influence of the in- stitutions organized in the mission, together with the growing independence and initiative of the South India churches and the Telugu Baptist Convention, make us most hopeful of the future of this work. The kingdom of God is advancing in the Lone Star Mission.
VI
BENGAL- ORISSA: THE VERDUN OF HINDUISM
The prudent policy for an army hard pressed is to shorten its lines. It may be assumed that the Church is hard pressed both in men and in material ; its wisdom, therefore, would appear to lie in a bold shortening of the lines. . . But the Church with one voice has rejected this logic. . . The unpardonable sin for a modern man is to despair of the human family, or to demand a safety for himself or his people which is not offered to all. We are not saved, it has been well said, except in a saved race. The Church, believing, as it must do, that in its gospel there is a sure spiritual foundation for mankind, cannot limit its vision or its service. — The London Times.
MEALTIME AT SINCLAIR ORPHANAGE Balasore, Bengal-Orissa
BENGAL- ORISSA: THE VERDUN OF HINDUISM
India is the most difficult mission field in the world, and Bengal is the most difficult field in India. It has been well called the Verdun of Hinduism. Baptists in Bengal- Orissa hold one of the most difficult and at the same time one of the most important sectors in the great foreign-mission battle-line of the church of the living God in the non-Christian world. As Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow. Bengal is the first province in intellectual attainment in India. The poet Tagore and many of the Indian nationalistic leaders are natives of Bengal. Here has been the home of the Szvaraj move- ment which is now sweeping India. The people of Bengal have had until the present, at least, more national pride than any other province, and hence they have clung most stubbornly to Hinduism, their national religion. The Bengali is probably the most conceited Indian. His edu- cation, social position, and Aryan blood all combine to make him feel superior and make him most difficult to reach with the gospel message. When the day comes that Bengal shall have been won for Christ, the conquest of India will then be at hand.
American missionaries have been working in Bengal and the southern part of Bihar-Orissa since 1836 when Rev. and Mrs. Jeremiah Phillips and Rev. and Mrs. Eli Noyes, who sailed from Boston on September 22. 1835, went out as the first missionaries of the Free Will Bap- tist Foreign Mission Society which had been organized
121
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two years previous. Arriving upon the field they co- operated with the Enghsh Baptists, already located at Cuttack, in establishing the work. At the time Orissa, now a division of the Bihar-Orissa Province, was sepa- rate, and as work overlapped the two Provinces, the Mis- sion was called Bengal-Orissa. With the union of the Baptists and Free Will Baptists the Mission was trans- ferred to the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society in 1911.
The Bengal-Orissa Mission occupies the Balasore Dis- trict of the Bihar-Orissa Province and the Midnapore Dis- trict of the Bengal Province. We work among three races, namely, Bengalis, Oriyas, and Santals. The San- tals, a hardy, aboriginal tribe, are animists and are espe- cially open-minded toward Christianity. In Balasore dis- trict, we are responsible for an area of 1,000 square miles, nearly as large as the State of Rhode Island, with a population of 1,500,000, which is greater than that of Connecticut. The literacy in this district is very low, only 68,468 males and 2,913 females out of a million people being able to read and write.
In this field, for which the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society is almost wholly responsible, we have four missionary families, five single women, and one single man. In the Midnapore District of the Bengal Province, we are responsible for a total population of 2,638,633, equal to the State of Wisconsin. We have for this field five missionary families and three single women. If either Rev. J. A. Howard at Contai or Rev. H. E. Long at Midnapore were to visit three villages a day in their fields continuously for three hundred and sixty-five days out of each year, one generation would have passed away before they could get around to visit all the villages in their respective fields.
Bengal-Orissa: The Verdun of Hinduism 123
The pioneer in this mission was Dr. Jeremiah PhilHps. The family of Doctor PhiUips has given eighteen mem- bers to mission work in India, making a united service of two hundred and twenty years. The first permanent station was in the old city of Balasore, a city of 21,000 population, where we have today a large and most suc- cessful work. We have here a boys' high school with one hundred and forty-one boys. The head master of the school is a product of our educational system in this field. On graduating from this high school, he received his college education and a graduate course in teaching at the Government College through money loaned to him by the Mission. He has paid this all back in full with in- terest, and is today one of the most enthusiastic workers in the school and in the church. Another graduate of this school has been for many years a prominent lawyer at Balasore, who in February gave up a good practise and a large income to accept appointment as the first In- dian Christian to be placed in full charge of a mission station. He is now in charge of the work at Santipore and has already been greatly blessed in winning a number of Hindus to Christianity.
At Balasore the Woman's Society has a Widows' Home, organized into an industrial school which carries on an extensive work in lace-making. The Sinclair Orphanage at Balasore, maintained by the missionaries of the Wo- man's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, pro- vides a home for orphan children and takes in children of poor stumbling Christian parents for whom there would otherwise be no future. Some eighty girls, rang- ing in age from babyhood to fifteen years are provided with a good home and taught sewing, cooking, and house- keeping as well as given the usual classroom instruction. There is also a girls' school with an enrolment of ninety-
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five, the only school in this city of twenty thousand where a girl can receive an education above the fourth standard. About two hundred married women in zenanas were visited last year by missionaries of the Woman's Society.
One of the primary aims of the missionary enterprise, along with the teaching and preaching of Jesus Christ and the evangelization of the inhabitants, is the develop- ment of a higher and nobler individual and community life. This can best be brought about by showing the people how better to provide for their economic and spiritual needs. One of the purposes of our mission work is to enable these untrained, uneducated people with whom we come in contact to take their proper place as citizens of the world, and to enable them to develop higher ideals and a better conception of home and com- munity life. For this reason the work of such schools as the Boys' Industrial School at Balasore is coming today to play an important part in the development of the mis- sionary program throughout the world. This school at Balasore is one of the largest and best-equipped indus- trial institutions anywhere in Bihar and Orissa. The school operates a factory where every boy receives pay for his work according to its merits. The products of the school are sold, and by this arrangement the boys are partly able to finance their education, and funds for the maintenance and development of the school are pro- vided. One year the sale of products amounted to nearly $10,000. Boys from our high schools who have never handled a tool in their lives, and boys who have failed to make good in their studies, come to this school. Here men, who in their home environments could not possibly earn more than from two to three dollars a month, be- come carpenters, cabinet-makers, blacksmiths, iron-fitters,
Bengal-Orissa: The Verdun of Hinduism 125
motor mechanics and drivers and electrical fitters, at many- times that salary, and in addition are taught to become useful and productive members of society. The school recently sent one of its students to the Rakha Copper Mines where he qualified as an electrical fitter, and after a month's work the superintendent of the mines wrote asking for eleven more such students. There is a decided Christian spirit in the school, and a number are con- tinually breaking from Hinduism and accepting Christ. The superintendent writes that the most urgent need in the school now is a trained Indian Christian worker to serve as chaplain, Bible teacher, and personal worker among the boys of the school. The Baptist church at Balasore has a membership of two hundred and fifty and, in addition to supporting its own pastor, supports an Indian preacher as an evangelist in the district. The Christian Endeavor Society supports another evangelist. There are ten organized churches in the district with a total membership of two thousand.
In the Bengal part of the field we have five stations: IMidnapore, Kharagpur, Bhimpore, Contai, and Jam- shedpur. Midnapore is a city of 43,000. It is the third largest city in Bengal-Orissa. It is the headquarters of the Midnapore District, and an important commercial center with a Government college of eight hundred stu- dents. The Indian National Y. M. C. A. has a fine build- ing and has located a secretary at this important center. Here is our Bible school, where practically every evan- gelist and pastor in the mission has been trained. We have a self-supporting church, and in addition are doing work for the men of the Government college. Midnapore is one of the Nationalistic centers of India. The Swa- dashji movement began here. Midnapore is a center of Hinduism. There are more than two hundred Hindu
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temples and shrines in the city. There is a large temple here to the Goddess Kali. Kali, formerly the patron god- dess, represented by a figure of horrible aspect, is every- where worshiped in Bengal. Kali-ma, Mother Kali, as she is often affectionately called, is one aspect of the Goddess Durga, the wife of Siva. She is represented as a four-armed being in one of whose hands is a sword and in another a human head. Around her head is a necklace of human skulls. Her bloody tongue is thrust well out, and she stands with one foot on her prostrate husband. This remarkable appearance came about in the following way. One time the earth was infested with demons, and Kali set out to destroy them. She slaugh- tered them in multitudes, but the continual shedding of blood finally unbalanced her mind, and she set about slaying people as well. Siva feared that she would soon destroy the whole human race, but she was so entirely mad that no command or threats even from him would stop her wild career. Finally Siva threw himself down in her path, but she did not see him until she had stepped on him. When she saw that she had stepped on her husband she thrust out her tongue in shocked surprise and stopped at once. Thus the human race was saved from annihilation.
In this center of Hinduism our missionaries have won many to Christianity. Among these is Chundra Lela, who shares with Pandita Ramabai the distinction of be- ing the best-known Christian woman of India. Chundra Lela was the daughter of a wealthy Brahmin *n the moun- tainous country of Nepal. At the age of seven she was married in great pomp to the only son of a Brahmin family. Three years later her husband died and Chundra Lela was that most despised of all creatures, a Hindu child widow. She remained in her own father's house
Bengal-Orissa : The Verdun of Hinduism 127
until she was thirteen. Her father, a learned man, taught her to read her own language and also to read Sanskrit, the mother of all Indian languages. At this time she went with her father on a pilgrimage to Jagannath, a sacred shrine in Orissa. There her father died, and she returned with fellow pilgrims to Nepal. In her Hindu sacred books, she learned of the promise of the pardon by visiting and worshiping at the four great shrines situated at the four cardinal points of India, for the sin, which according to Hinduism had caused her widowhood. With two maid servants, she stole away one night in search of God. She visited first the temple of Jagannath, near Balasore, erected in honor of Jagannath, the lord of the earth. This is one of the ugliest gods in the Hindu pantheon. A second of the great shrines of India that she visited is Ramanath on a small island not far from Madras. Here the God Ram with the help of an army of monkeys bridged the strait between India and Ceylon to rescue the beautiful wife Sita. The third famous shrine to which she made pilgrimage is the temple Dwa- raknath in the extreme west of India, the scene of the actions of Krishna, the vilest god of Hinduism. Millions of pilgrims visit this place, for it is written in the Holy Rook of Hinduism, " Whoever visits that holy shrine, the place where Krishna pursued his sports, is liberated from all sins." The last of the four great shrines, Bad- rinath, is in the extreme north of India, erected high up amid the snows of the Himalayas, in honor of Vishnu. With bare feet cut and bleeding, Chundra Lela with her companions climbed this mountain of snow and ice in search of forgiveness and peace. Seven years had passed in this pilgrimage in search of God, and not yet had she found him. Continuing her pilgrimages she later became a priestess of one of the Indian rajas or native
128 Following the Pioneers
princes, who had a residence near Midnapore. She re- mained here seven years, held in holy reverence by all, but yet she had not found the rest and peace for which her soul craved. She decided on a last resort, and deter- mined to spend three years in bodily torture, subject- ing herself to every cruelty enjoined in the sacred books of Hinduism. The story of her sufferings and tortures during these three years is most pitiable. At the end she said, " I have done and suffered all that could be required of mortals by God or man, and yet without avail." Re- turning to Midnapore, she was found one day by our missionary, who told her of the gospel of divine love and forgiveness. With her great intelligence and her suffering, searching heart, she accepted the gospel at once, and a few weeks later was baptized by Doctor Phillips. From that day she became a wonderful Christian worker and traveled far and wide, not only in Bengal-Orissa, but in distant provinces, telling everywhere the story of Jesus and God's love. At the great mela, or Hindu feast, at Allahabad, where thousands come every year, she spent a month preaching. And so all over India and Assam, where she formerly traveled as a Hindu priestess, she now traveled preaching Jesus. In far-away Nepal where no missionary had ever gone, where twenty-seven years before she had started on her wearisome search, she preached to her own family and won her own brother to Christ.
One day in Midnapore, after the Mission Conference, our missionaries told her they were going to build her a house where she could live her last days in peace and comfort. " If you will build me a house," she said, " build it on the roadside so that when I am too old to walk, I may crawl up to the door and preach to the people as they go by on their pilgrimages to Jagannath." Here in a
HINDU GODDESS KALI Midnapore, Bengal-Orissa
Bengal-Orissa: The Verdun of Hinduism 129
house by the side of the road she spent her last days, loved and honored by all who knew her, a blessing to all who passed her door.
Khanto Bela Rai, one of the Jubilee guests of the Woman's Board in America in 1921, comes from Midna- pore. Her father, one of the most devoted spiritual men who ever lived, because of his exceptional ability received many tempting offers to go elsewhere, but his fine sense of loyalty kept him to the last as a preacher among his own people. His father was a Government official, a Brahmin. While a student in the high school he secured a Gospel from one of our preachers and was converted to Christianity. He was a man of deep spiritual power, a preacher of surpassing ability, and was loved and honored by men of all creeds and castes in Midnapore.
An interesting story is told of a young Scotchman who came to India to enter the Government service. He was the product of a devout, Christian home and before him was a promising future. His first location was Midnapore, Bengal. Regularly he attended the Bengali church services, and he was very friendly with the mis- sionaries. While he was calling at the mission bunga- low one evening, he said to the missionary : " Well, I have gone and done it. They say that a man cannot live in India and keep his health without taking a peg of whisky each day, so I've taken my first one today." Miss L. C. Coombs, a missionary of thirty years' ex- perience, to whom he was talking, knew how this news would cut the hearts of his Christian parents, and what a blow it was to their hopes. She also knew what it meant to him — it was the first step in the wrong direction. Her feeling in the matter was so intense that her plea ended with tears.
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He went to his bungalow. Time passed by. His worth was recognized, and he was made private secretary to the Governor of Bengal. With his advance in position came an enlarging influence. His name was linked with all kinds of good enterprises in the uplift of India whether Christian or non-Christian.
In 1919, Miss Coombs was to speak at a public meet- ing in Darjeeling. It happened that this same Scotchman was presiding at this occasion. In introducing Miss Coombs, he went back to the time he was magistrate at Midnapore and told this incident. He said, '' I went home that night and said to myself, ' If a peg of whiskey will cause any woman tears, even if I die in India, I shall never touch another drop of it, and I have not from that day to this.' " Just at a wavering moment in his career, the steadying influence of a Christian mission- ary helped him and saved him to a life of enlarging in- fluence and service.
Kharagpur, where twenty-five years ago our mission- aries hunted the bears and tigers in the jungle, is today a great railroad center, housing the largest railway shops in India. We have here a church for English-speaking people, which although small, exerts a powerful moral and spiritual influence on the city, and ministers to an important part of the population. An Indian church has grown up here which is entirely self-supporting, and through the gift of Dr. J. T. Ward, formerly a teacher at Hillsdale College, Michigan, we have recently erected the Ward Memorial Church building. The Indian pastor of this church reports having baptized Hindu converts every month during the past year.
Contai is the subdivisional headquarters of one of the most populous centers of all India, having nearly nine hundred per square mile. Contai is an important student
Bengal-Orissa: The Verdun of Hinduism 131
center and is said to have more college graduates than any place of its size in India.
Bhimpore, the center of our work for 200,000 Santals, is one of the most important Bengal-Orissa stations. Work was begun here in 1873 by Dr. and Mrs. J. L. Phillips and Miss Julia Phillips, who made their first home with the natives in a rude mud-and-thatched house. The Government has turned over to the Baptists the entire management of the Santals' education, so that the opportunities here are unique. We have in the village schools of this field an enrolment of nearly two thousand boys and girls.
The illiteracy of the people greatly retards the progress of the Christianity in Bengal. The influence of Christian- ity on education is strikingly illustrated in Bihar and Orissa where the proportion of Indian Christians who are literate is sixty-seven per thousand as compared with five per thousand among their animistic neighbors. For the first time in many years we have two families here, and we hope to develop the Bhimpore school into a high school for boys and girls and to press the evan- gelistic work among the responsive Santals. We have faith to believe that great victories are to be won in the Bhimpore field.
The last station to be organized in the Bengal-Orissa Mission is Jamshedpur, one of the most interesting cities in all India. In 1908, Jamshedpur was a barren desert with a few mud huts. Today it has a population of one hundred thousand and is one of the most rriodern and up-to-date cities in the Indian Empire. It is a story of romance, courage, and vigor. In 1902, Mr. Jamsheedji Tata, a leading member of the Parsee community of Bom- bay, having conceived the idea of starting the steel indus- try, visited the United States. Mr. Tata met a mining
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engineer in New York, who was impressed with the won- derful personaHty of Mr. Tata and with his scheme, though it seemed most visionary. This engineer, Mr. Perin, finally agreed to send a party of American prospec- tors to India. Long was the search and many the hard- ships undergone when, in an area hitherto almost unknown and unexplored, deposits of coal and iron were discovered. Mr. Jamsheedji Tata died before he could see the fulfil- ment of his dreams, but his son, Sir Dorab Tata, proved worthy of his father, and when he failed to find finan- cial support in London for this enterprise of such im- portance to the Indian Empire, he appealed to his In- dian fellow countryment for the capital needed. The response was immediate, and the Tata Iron and Steel Company was launched, the greatest industrial concern in India. Today, just fourteen years after the first stake was driven in the ground, Jamshedpur with its one hundred thousand inhabitants, its beautiful roads, parks, school buildings, hospitals, and other institutions for the welfare of its people, is the Pittsburgh of India. There are forty-four thousand people on the pay-roll of the company, and its subsidiary branches, also located here, employ large numbers of men. Several hundred Amer- icans are employed at the plant, the chief engineer and manager being Americans. The company is turning out daily nine hundred tons of pig iron and four hun- dred tons of rails. During the war it was rails produced at Jamshedpur that made possible the victorious cam- paigns in Syria and Mesopotamia. When the war was over. Lord Chelmsford, the \^iceroy, visited Jamshedpur to express the gratitude of the government. " I can hardly imagine," he said, " what we would have done if the Tata Company had not been able to give us steel rails which provided not only Mesopotamia but Egypt, Pales-
TATA IRON WORKS FROM A DISTANCE Jamshedpur, Bengal-rOrissa
Rev. O. L. SWANSON PREACHING FROM A MOTOR-CAR
Golaghat, Assam
Bengal-Orissa : The Verdun of Hinduism 133
tine, and East Africa.'' With all its wealth and modern improvements Jamshedpur is a place of the rankest mate- rialism. Many young men from our Christian communi- ties have been attracted here by big wages. Our mis- sionaries, following these young men, felt the appeal also of their fellow Americans in this far-away city, and in 1919 we opened a mission station. We have built a com- modious bungalow for the missionaries. Rev. and Mrs. Zo Browne, with a large room on the first floor where will be held Sunday evening services for these Americans. There is an Episcopal Church and a Roman Catholic Church in the city, but as the Episcopal Bishop said, the Baptist Foreign Mission Society is especially needed in Jamshedpur for the Indian work.
We already have here a strong Indian church. The pastor, Rev. Amrit Babu, has had a most difficult ex- perience and one that has fully tested his faith during his first three years at Jamshedpur. In this crowded city it was impossible to find a house. Quite often he spent the night in the bazaar. One by one he searched out the Christians and won their affection. For about two years they worshiped in each other's homes and then for some months in a tent.
The following interesting story of one of these converts was written in Bengali by the Indian pastor and translated into English by his son :
In 1918 when I first came to Jamshedpur, then the condition of the Christian community was too bad. In plain terms, their condition was so bad that when I used to pray with them, they knelt with me in order to pray, but finishing my prayer, I found them gone. Now it is very happy thing that the church has been organized, and I have found some hundred members con- sisting of men, women, and children for Christ the Saviour. But sorry to say we have no church building in which to worship our God. Now we gather together in the house of a Christian man
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who was a half-caste over just two and half years ago. But now he has turned his mind to God and accepted Christ as his Saviour miraculously. One day his wife was very sick, she had very little chance of living. At that time her husband, that man, sent for me. I went there and found him intoxicated and mourn- ful about his wife. I sat up two nights near her bedside, and began to pray ceaselessly. She recovered in a few days. I began to work for God to gain that man. I gave him several books and advised him to read Scripture, and thus within a few days he turned from sin, and now he is a good Christian. Now I am very glad, and also there is joy in heaven because God has said, " There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth."
The church now numbers seventy-five men and twenty- five women. Only a few of the men have as yet brought their families to Jamshedpur. It is interesting to find BengaH, Telugu, and Oriyan Christians all worshiping together. Money has been appropriated for the church building and a pastor's house, and Baptists are now in a position to do a helpful work in this wonderful city.
Mission work in Bengal-Orissa is greatly handicapped by the institution of caste which is intimately bound up with the very structure of Hindu society. In no other section of the Indian Empire is the system more pro- nounced than in Bengal, where it holds everything in its iron grip and presents an obstacle almost insuperable to modern ideas and the acceptance of Christianity on the part of the people. " The regeneration of the Indian people, to my mind," says the great poet-philosopher Rabindranath Tagore,
directly and perhaps solely depends upon the removal of this condition of caste. When I realize the hypnotic hold this gigantic system of cold-blooded repression has taken on the minds of our people, whose social body it has so completely entwined in its endless evils that the free expression of manhood, even under the direct necessity, has become almost an impossibility, the only
Bengal-Orissa: The Verdun of Hinduism 135
remedy that suggests itself to me is to educate them out of their trance. . . Must we not have that great vision of humanity which will impel us to shake ofif the fetters that shackle our individual life, before we begin to dream of national freedom?
The Christians of the Bengal-Orissa field have a Home Mission Society, and the churches are organized into a " Yearly ]^Ieeting " of the Bengal-Orissa Baptist Con- vention. The conduct of the evangelistic work of the mission has been transferred to the evangelistic Board of this Convention. This Board is composed of nine members, six of whom are Indians. There is an in- creasing interest in self-support and independence which is prophetic of larger results in this most interesting and most difficult field in which Northern Baptists are work- ing. At the last meeting of the Convention which was held at Bhimpore, Rev. William Carey, the great-grand- son of the foimder of modern missions, was present.
Dr. H. R. Murphy, our veteran missionary of the Bengal-Orissa Mission, concluded his paper to the Annual Conference with these words :
For a century we have been trying to arouse India, a somnolent giant. We had almost despaired of even quieting his snore but behold, today that giant is sitting up. Caste, the unquestioned social order of India for a thousand years, while still in the field, is denounced or condoned by the masses. The priests are frantic in the realization of their waning power. We of only twfenty years of service have witnessed miracles. The impos- sible has come to pass. As a result of their contact with the missionary and his life in India, unnumbered thousands enumerated as Hindus possess a new outlook on life. They have turned away from degrading customs and are seeking for more light from Christianity. The little leaven is in very fact leavening the whole lump. Bengal is the Verdun of Hinduism. Leave it in our rear untaken and the work of all India is in jeopardy. We must take Bengal at all costs.
VII
ASSAM: THE FUTURE BRIGHT WITH HOPE
When the present interest in missionary work has been replaced by a deep sense of imperial responsibility, and a passionate en- thusiasm to take up the Christ-Man's burden, the mere question of finance will sink into insignificance before the larger and far more serious question of vital resources. It is not so much in- creased liberality at home and increased funds abroad which are demanded, as richer thought and feeling at home and a newer and more varied organization abroad. — Bernard Lucas.
ASSAM: THE FUTURE BRIGHT WITH HOPE
Assam has been called a " pocket full of gold " — a pocket hidden in the folds and wrinkles of the mighty Himalayas, rich in natural resources as yet scarcely touched by man. This beautiful fertile valley has never known a famine. To the business man Assam offers an opportunity of developing rich resources. To the traveler it is a land full of charm, beauty, and danger, and to the church it is a challenge to bring to waiting millions the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The plains of the Brahma- putra River constitute the heart of its wealth. The valley is four hundred miles long and about sixty miles wide. It is so fertile that its grasses grow twenty feet high. Large trees produce beautiful flaming scarlet flowers, and both plains and hills are covered with profuse vegetation that in places even an elephant cannot penetrate. The luxurious grass feeds all kinds of wild animals. Over four hundred elephants were captured in one section alone during one winter season. Tigers wander at will through the jungle paths. \^iewed from a distance the scene is like the land and its people : fascinating and romantic. Gradually with the years cultivation is re- placing the jungle. The rich soil tickled by the crooked stick called by courtesy a plow and scratched by a bamboo harrow not merely smiles but laughs aloud and produces crops of rice, tea, cotton, and jute that are helping to feed and clothe the world. Four hundred thousand acres are devoted to the cultivation of tea, and two hundred and
139
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forty-three million pounds of this product were pro- duced in the province last year. The three-quarters of a million immigrants who do the labor in these enormous gardens offer the most fruitful field for evangelism in the plains.
Here we have a most interesting and successful work among a people numbering many races. Assam lies in the extreme northeastern part of India, bordering on Burma and Tibet and reaching up toward China. The Province has an area of 61,682 square miles, as large as New England, and its population of 7,100,000 is larger than that of the combined States of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.
The Christian work in this rich, undeveloped province with its many tribes and races is largely in the hands of the American Baptists. We occupy the field from one end of the province to the other and have mission stations in both the valley and the hills. There are many gaps in our line, however, that must be closed within the next few years if Northern Baptists are to measure up to their high and sacred responsibility.
Cross-currents and cross-purposes in life's river of service opened Assam to the gospel. A British officer, located at Sadiya on the northeast frontier in 1834, wrote to our mission in Burma, requesting that a missionary be sent there to '* convert the heathen." The " heathen " round about were in rebellion and giving so much trouble that this good man felt that if they could be converted, it would help the Government and incidentally save him hard work. Dr. and Mrs. Nathan Brown responded to this invitation and undertook the long and wearisome journey requiring four months from Burma to Sadiya, which became our first mission station in Assam. This station has ever since been the center for reaching the
Dr. Y. NANDAMAH South India
Assam: The Future Bright with Hope 141
Daphlas, Miris, Abors, Mishmis, and Champis, who oc- cupy the mountain homes under the shadow of the snow- capped Himalayas. Nathan Brown, Hke so many Bap- tist pioneer missionaries, had a genius for languages. Within three years after arriving at Sadiya he had con- quered the Assamese language and translated eleven schoolbooks and thirteen chapters of the Gospel of Mat- thew into Assamese. Later he translated the entire New Testament into Assamese. He also wrote a life of Christ in Assamese and translated Pilgrim's Progress. After twenty years of laborious toil and achievements, failing health made it imperative that he return to America. At the age of sixty-five he went out again as a mis- sionary, this time to Japan. Here the war-scarred veteran served for thirteen years and crowned a life of marvelous achievement by his translation of the New Testament into Japanese. This, the first translation of the entire New Testament in Japanese, was published in 1879.
Our work in Assam is conducted mainly in eight lan- guages, but altogether we work in fifteen of its sixty-seven languages and dialects. IMiraculous providence, so often manifest in foreign missionary work, opened the gospel to the Garos, a tribe of blood-thirsty savages hidden away in small villages in the dense mountain jungles four hun- dred miles west of Sadiya at the other extremity of the Province. Two Garo boys, Ramkge and Omed, were attending school at Goalpara which the British Govern- ment had opened in the hope of gaining a degree of in- fluence over these wild people. Later, these boys became sepoys or soldiers in the British Army in India. One day Ramkge, who had been sent to guard an empty mission house in which an army officer was to live, picked up a torn page of a Christian tract. The message of the tract sent Ramkge to a native Christian through whom he
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heard the gospel story. Ramkge, hke Andrew of old, found Omed and told him of Jesus the Saviour. In February, 1863, both young men were baptized by Doctor Bronson; then, having secured their release from the Army, they returned to their own Garo people as heralds of the truth, and today there are eight thousand Garo Christians.
The churches in the Garo Hills are well organized. Each church as a result of its missionary activity has a number of branch churches. A Garo pastor is in charge of each mother church and its branches. Some churches have as many as fifteen or twenty branches in their terri- tory. In all, there are nineteen such churches and a great many branch churches. Six hundred and thirty-four members were received into the churches by baptism in 1920 and nine hundred and thirty-two in 1921. The churches are organized into an Association, and it was my privilege to attend one of these Associational meet- ings. There were more than one thousand people present, and I was greatly impressed with the careful, conscien- tious way in which the Association transacted its busi- ness, much of which was of vital interest to the churches and the Garo Christians. One matter considered at the Association was somewhat unusual in character, and it is doubtful if any other Baptist Association was ever called upon to consider a matter of such a nature. It was found necessary to take action in regard to the depredations of man-killing tigers in the Garo Hills. In one single section of the hills more than one hundred and forty people were killed by man-eating tigers during the two preceding years. The Association petitioned the Govern- ment to take more active measures to get rid of these tigers. The Government responded by contributing fifty more guns in this section, and the situation has been re-
Assam: The Future Bright with Hope 143
lieved. The tigers are especially annoying during the rains when the heavy floods drive all wild beasts from the plains up into the hill districts.
Next to the religious welfare of the people, the churches stand for the social and moral betterment of the com- muijity. One church recently caught a gang of counter- feiters and turned them over to the Government. Kala- azar, a dread disease, has been raging in the Garo Hills the last two years, and the Government has a record of over seven hundred cases. The disease is very deadly, and the treatment, tartar emetic, given intravenously, lasts three months, so that hundreds of cases are being con- cealed through fear. The disease is spreading fast in spite of the desperate efforts of the Government to stay it. In one district a few years ago, it carried off ten per cent, of the population. The Baptist churches in the hills and the village preachers and evangelists are cooperating with the Government under the direction of the mis- sionary, Rev. F. W. Harding, and are encouraging the people to report all cases of the disease and bring the patients to Tura where a big temporary hospital has been built.
The Garo churches are assuming more and more evan- gelistic responsibility for the Christianizing of their own tribe. They are not only supporting their own village schools, but two of the churches have undertaken to help support schools in weaker villages. The churches in 1920 contributed 8,160 rupees. There are seventy-seven Sun- day schools with 120 teachers and 3,41*7 pupils. The seventy-seven village schools are attended by 2,589 boys and girls. More than one-third of the baptisms on this field came through the schools. The missionary encour- ages the school children to plant fruit and vegetable gardens, and this not only has been of educational value.
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but one school received enough from the sale of products to buy slates and books for the whole school and, after a big '' spread," had a balance left in the school treasury. Through these village schools our Mission in the Garo Hills is doing a work which the Government is unable to do. The missionaries are pioneers in education. The Government recognizes this and appreciates what we have done for the Garos. The Mission opens schools in sections where even the pay of the Government could not possibly have any attraction for a teacher. The Mis- sion makes a higher appeal than money; it says to the Garo Christians : " Go yonder up into that lonely hill vil- lage where the people are absolutely uncivilized, where the dirt and smells and customs are disgusting, where you will find little or no real fellowship; go to the village, not for pay, but for Christ's sake, and give the best you have, even your life if need be." It is because the Mission can make such an appeal to Christian people that it is able to break a path from the grossest indifference to a knowledge of the life that is in Christ Jesus. After a school has been well started and the idea of education has in a sense become naturalized, which is impossible with- out a Christian nucleus, the school is ready to be turned over to the Government for support. Two years ago twenty such schools were handed over to the Government. The missionaries and Garo preachers are allowed to give religious instruction in the schools. There is a hostel at the high school in which fifty-three boys lived la§t year. We expect to have a second hostel in 1922, for the Deputy Commissioner has ruled that all boys must live in the hostel except those who are living with guardians ap- proved by himself. Experience has demonstrated that boys living in the Mission hostel do better work in school than boys living outside. One morning the Deputy Com-
Assam: The Future Bright with Hope 145
missioner paid an early visit to the hostel. He surprised the boys by walking up through the jungle so that no one saw him approach. After an inspection of the hostel he wrote: " I am very pleased to see that the hostel is extremely neat and clean. Everything about it is most creditable." We also have at Tura a Bible school for the training of teachers and church workers. There is a small hospital with an American doctor and an American- trained nurse. The Woman's Society has a middle En- glish girls' school of two hundred members, which is a most important factor in the development of the home and church life among the Garos.
In addition to the missionaries and the pastors, there are five evangelists working in this field all the time. In 1921, these five evangelists visited 965 villages and preached to thirty-one thousand people. The teachers and the Inspector of Schools, Ramsing, are all men of the evangelistic spirit. In one of Mr. Ramsing's letters, written while traveling with a Garo Association evan- gelist, he says :
We divided our time so as to preach in the churches, one after another. I stayed in one village for eight days. During that time a rapacious tiger killed two men. I thank our Almighty God that I have not met any wild beasts on our journey.
From another village he writes :
I preached in the Rongjeng church twice, once at noon and again in the evening. At the noon meeting there were one hun- dred and eighty people present and in the evening there were more than one hundred people gathered in the same church. They came from three churches to hear me. Before preaching I have prayed to God that I might preach to the people well. The people listened attentively.
Work in the plains is carried on for the Assamese and thousands of Indians who have come to Assam from
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lower India to work in the tea-gardens. At Dhubri, Gauhati, Nowgong, Golaghat, Sibsagor, North Lakhim- pur, and Jorhat, the missionaries are carrying on a per- sistent, aggressive evangelism, and with their Assamese and Indian preachers and Bible-women, are winning hun- dreds to Christianity and organizing them into churches and Associations. All the churches come together once a year in the All-Assam Baptist Convention. The evan- gelistic work of the Mission is greatly invigorated by the yearly meeting of the Golaghat Bible Assembly. The Assembly is similar to our Northfield Christian Confer- ence and is attended by more than two hundred delegates. The Bible holds a central place in the Assembly, and daily for a week the delegates spend hours in the inten- sive devotional study of God's Word under the leader- ship of Rev. O. L. Swanson, the guiding genius and in- spiration of the Assembly. He is ably assisted by other missionaries, and the spiritual time at this annual assem- bly means much to the work of our churches and to Assam. This annual gathering at Golaghat is being greatly used of God in deepening and enriching the lives of the Christian people of the province.
Dr. W. E. Witter, in describing the meeting of the Bible Conference at Golaghat in 1921, says*
The instruction was all given in the Assamese language this year to twenty Assamese, eighty-one Mundas, eleven Garos, ten Kachins, nine Mikirs, six Urias, four Urangs, three Bhumjis, two each from the Santals, Nepalis, Khariyas, and Bengalis, and one Telugu, and one Angami Naga. These with the twenty- two women in attendance made a grand total of 176, which does not include the visitors, missionaries, and conference teachers who also represented several nationalities. It was wonderful to note the promptness in attendance from the eldest to the youngest of this great, class of men and boys, and it was a joy to watch their eager faces as new visions were revealed to them. Mr. Swanson,
Assam: The Future Bright with Hope 147
no matter how weary or fatigued, was always on the qui vive. It was a rare treat to see him manipulate his class, calling each by name and questioning with skill each man in his turn in that spirit of a true brother and father to them all. Throughout the conference these men, from fourteen different races and tribes, lived together in the hostels in most cordial fellowship, never giving a thought to any difference in language, rank, or educational attainments. They ate and slept in fellowship to- gether as brothers of one family. Humility and the true love of the Master seemed to rule all hearts. Two sessions were given to the men to tell what they had received from the conference, one session being insufficient for the delegates to express them- selves as fully as they desired as to what these days had meant in drawing them nearer to God and deepening their love for his Word and his kingdom and their high calling in Christ Jesus as his fellow workers and witnesses. Some of the men said they could hardly wait to get back to their villages to tell their friends and the heathen about them, of the new and great joy that was flooding their souls. Naturally the teachers could but give devout thanks to God that so much of the instruction given has already taken deep root in so many hearts prophetic of future harvests for the kingdom.
The Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission So- ciety is doing especially effective work among the women and children of Assam. At Gauhati, Nowgong, and Gola- ghat there are three well-equipped girls' schools which are influencing in an ever-increasing way the girlhood and the future mothers of Assam. At Gauhati is the Satri Bari boarding- and day-school with twenty-four boys, one hundred and six girls, and a teaching staff numbering three men and six women, and a day-school in the town with an enrolment of eighteen boys and thirty-six girls. The Gale Memorial School at Golaghat, numbering seventy-four pupils, has well been termed a " garden of feminine culture." Girls, little and big, old and young, and mothers with children are gathered here for a time and then sent out to share with friends old and new the
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new beauty that has come to them. They become teachers and Christian workers. Some marry and immediately estabUsh their homes on the new plan. The compound is a model Indian village with cottages, cook-houses, granary, weaving-shed, school, church, and bungalow. Those girls are trained to take a helpful part in all good work, and many of the older ones become Bible teachers. The Woman's Society is now building at Gauhati the first and only hospital for women and children in the province, and is establishing at Jorhat a Woman's Bible Training School. Dr. and Mrs. W. E. Witter began some years ago to open their home in Gauhati to the young men of Cotton College, one of the two Government colleges of the prov- ince. In three years no less than 736 young men have come into this home to talk with Doctor and Mrs. Witter in regard to their life problems. We have here one of the most wonderful examples of personal work in the history of the modern church. Doctor Witter's friend, Judge E. E. Lewis, of Sioux City, Iowa, a short time before his death contributed a sum of money for the erection of a hostel for college men in connection with this work. This memorial building has been erected on the mission compound at Gauhati, facing the broad Brah- maputra, with the towering Himalayas in the distance. The building is now full of young men from the college who are living in most healthful surroundings under the constant influence of the mission. Doctor and Mrs. Wit- ter have retired from the work, and Mr. and Mrs. Cecil G. Fielder, friends and companions of these young men, carry on the work in the names of Jesus of Nazareth. Mr. Fielder writes :
Of all the work we have done this year, that which has meant the most to me and upon which I have spent by far the most time, has been the intensive Bible study and talks about the life
NATIVE SAWMILL, INDIA
DOCTOR AND MRS. WITTER AND STUDENTS Gauhati, Assam
Assam: The Future Bright with Hope 149
and teaching of Jesus with individuals and small groups. In these we have gone right to the bottom of the Christian faith, the nature of God, his relationship to Jesus and to us, the meaning of Jesus' life, teachings, and death to the character and happiness of men and their progress toward the ideal that God has set for them. Our conversations have been honest and intense, and never have we avoided an issue. Men have come to know Jesus much better, and to believe in his life and teachings as the hope of mankind. But no one has yet come to the place where he is willing to separate himself from family or community for his sake. I do not cease to do all in my power to this end. The seed is planted and nourished, and is bearing fruit of a kind. But it is not the full fruit that we yearn for. The warm, loving spirit of God and time both are needed to bring this to pass, coupled with the steady continuance of the instruction and en- couragement we have given in the past. When I consider my own slowness and dulness in rising to God's will for me, with my life-long Christian upbringing and unusual opportunities, I con- clude that I cannot reasonably do anything else than be willing to wait for years for these men to come to their full develop- ment, if necessary. But I have great faith in their honesty and courage and ability eventually to win for themselves the privilege of working together with God for the salvation of the world. Their courtesy, sympathy, and comradeliness are a constant chal- lenge, inspiration, and help to me.
The Sunday I spent in Gauhati, it was my privilege to preach to a splendid congregation of these college boys gathered in the auditorium of Lewis ^Memorial. Eighty- one of these young men are regular attendants at the Bible classes where the claims of Jesus and the Christian religion are placed before them in a personal way. Above all there are the long walks with Mr. Fielder and the quiet hours face to face with each other in the Christlike at- mosphere of the latter's home. I will never forget the walk that I had with Mr. Fielder and two of these young university men, one a Hindu and one a Brahmin. After that afternoon of mountain climbing with these boys I did
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not wonder that Mr. and Mrs. Fielder and Doctor and Mrs. Witter have come to love them. These young men are from the best homes in the province and are the future leaders of Assam.
The educational needs of this Mission are becoming more and more apparent as it faces the new day and the natural aspiration of the Christians of Assam for larger participation in the Christian work of the province. There is an increasing demand for an educated Christian leadership. The educational plans of the Mission call for one central high school at Jorhat with industrial, normal, Bible, business, and collegiate preparatory courses. In addition to this, it is planned to have a high school at Kohima for the Naga Hills and Manipur. As feeders for these schools, it is expected that there will be a good system of village schools among the Christian vil- lages. These schools are supposed to head up in a middle English school in each station. The Bible holds an important place in all these schools, with a special Bible Department at Jorhat and the Bible School at Tura in the Garo Hills. There is no provision for any institution in this Mission of higher grade than high school. It has been thought wise not to try to compete with the Government in higher education, but to make use of Cotton College at Gauhati or institutions of higher learning in other parts of India. The students of Cotton College will be under Christian influence through the Lewis Memorial Hostel. This Mission should have funds available to make it possible for Baptist students to con- tinue their college and medical school work. Our mis- sionaries are confident that a failure to appreciate the importance of the educational work in this Province has been a source of weakness in the past, and urge that forward steps be taken at once.
Assam: The Future Bright with Hope 151
At the head of our educational system in Assam stand the Jorhat Christian Schools. It is from these schools that our Assam Mission looks for its trained pastors, evangelists, and teachers. Three branches of school work are maintained, Biblical, secular, and industrial. The two hundred and fifty pupils now enrolled in the Jorhat Christian Schools are already giving back to their own people the benefits derived from their still limited educa- tion. Young men from fifteen races have sought ad- mission to these schools. Some of the students, carrying their provisions and luggage, walk two hundred miles, so anxious are they for an education. Thus the Jorhat Christian Schools are sending their influence into the most remote corners of the Province. The curriculum makes use of all the available natural resources, and these are presented as an interpretation of Christianity. For an hour each day the pupils study the Bible; but according to Christian standards of religion they must be doers and not hearers only, so after an hour a day of Bible study they have from two to four hours of work when they are taught to put Christianity into practise. Seventy per cent, of the boys enrolled are Christians. Near the Jorhat Schools, we have purchased one of the finest sites in Assam for the location of a hospital. ]\Ioney for the erection of the hospital building has been promised by a friend in America, and when the hospital is completed our work in this center of Assam will be greatly strength- ened and should have increasing influence through the length of the Brahmaputra valley.
In 1876, the veteran Rev. E. W. Clark, who at Sibsagor, had felt the pull of the unreached mountain tribes, de- termined to give himself to the Nagas. At this time the Nagas were not in the British dominion, and to live beyond the British flag required a permit from the Viceroy
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in India. On making application, Mr. Clark was in- formed that should he enter the Naga wilds, he must do so at his own risk. This was enough for a missionary of the Cross, and he was soon located in a far mountain village surrounded by wild head-hunters. Here he began the work of reducing the language to writing — another ot that noble list of Baptist missionaries who gave not only God's Word but an entire language to the people among whom they labored. When the British took over the territory in 1889, Mr. Clark had so won the con- fidence of the people that he was of inestimable service to the Government and a great help to the Nagas in their new relationship. When I visited this field in 1918, fifteen mountain villages were pointed out to me where twenty- five years ago the name of Jesus had never been heard, but in each one of them now there is a strong self-sup- porting Baptist church, and the life of each village has been completely transformed by the permeating influence of Christianity. At Impur, the central station of the tribe, we have a strong church, a boys' school, a girls' school, and a hospital. We have work in forty-nine out of the fifty-five Ao Naga villages. There are forty-six organ- ized churches and thirty-eight village schools. There are now over four thousand baptized Christians. The churches are organized into Associations, and their mem- bers contribute more than a thousand dollars annually. There is every reason to believe that within a few years this work will be entirely self-supporting.
The latest mission station to be opened in Assam is Kangpokpi in the native State of Manipur, located in the northeast part of the Province and about as large as the State of Massachusetts. Manipur State is ruled over by a native prince or Maharajah who is interested in our industrial and medical work. The State consti-
Assam: The Future Bright with Hope 153
tutes a fertile plain surrounded by mountains. The peo- ple in the plains are Manipuris or Hindus, while those of the hills are Tangkul Nagas and Kukis. The hill- people were wild head-hunters, but have recently accepted Christianity in large numbers. In 1894, Rev. William Pettigrew opened work here in a greatly restricted area. Two years later, he was given permission by the Maha- rajah to settle at Ukhrul, a mountain village, and to work among the head-hunters. For many years Mr. and ^Irs. Pettigrew, in one of the most isolated mission stations in all India, gave themselves most heroically to this dif- ficult and dangerous work. He was awarded the Kaisar- i-Hind medal in 1918 for distinguished service during the war. In recognition of this and also of the service of Dr. G. G. Crozier, a Baptist medical missionary who served for two years as medical officer for a military ex- pedition into iNIanipur, the Government granted us at Kangpokpi, at a nominal rental, one hundred acres of land on the main automobile road leading to Imphal, the capital of the State. Doctor Crozier has done a remark- able piece of work in clearing the mountainside, building roads, two bungalows, two school buildings, and a num- ber of temporary buildings. On this mountainside we have a beautiful mission station, ministering in many ways to the needs of the people. In the leper asylum there are twenty-eight patients under treatment. Doctor •Crozier uses the chaulmoogra oil treatment, and four lepers have been discharged as cured. Doctor Muir, one of the greatest authorities on leprosy in India, visited Kangpokpi a few weeks before we were there in 1921 and was much pleased at the work being done in our leper asylum. Doctor Crozier writes :
My visit to Doctor Muir's laboratory in Calcutta and to his leper clinic, and visit with him to a large leper asylum near Cal-
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cutta, strengthened me in the hope of ridding Manipur State of leprosy within a comparatively few years.
The hospital is not yet built, but Doctor Crozier and his native assistant treated nearly 5,000 patients last year in a temporary dispensary. The station also maintains a boys' school and a girls' school and a large industrial work. The nineteen village schools have an enrolment of seven hundred boys and girls. Wonderful gardens are made possible by the continual supply of water which flows to all parts of the compound from never-failing springs on the mountainside. There is a flourishing church of one hundred and forty members with six other organized churches, together with seventeen branch churches in the State. In 1915, after twenty years of work in the field, there were sixty-three church-members. When I was in Assam in 1918, there were still less than three hundred. Today there are 1,435 church-members, 569 having been baptized in 1921. Five hundred and fifty-five representatives from twenty-five different vil- lages of the State \yere in attendance at the Association meetings. One of the most inspiring incidents of our trip to India in 1921-1922 was a meeting of this Association which we attended at Kangpokpi. Following is an ad- dress on self-support delivered at the convention by one of the evangelists who is also treasurer of the Manipur Home Mission Society. This address was delivered in Kuki and Naga and then translated for me by the speaker.' I give the translation exactly as he wrote it:
Reports on Self-support
Dear brothren in Christ : In this meeting I, am obliged to speak before you all how we have been attempting to support the Evan- gelists and other workers for Christ, since the church established.
Beginning in the year 1908, we who earn money have agreed to give l4 of our income and those who labour in their own fields give
Assam: The Future Bright with Hope 155
in kinds ; with which we could sent out four Evangelists to the neighboring villages for few years.
And lately we resolved to build a permanent church, for we considered that the building use for school is not convenient for the meeting. But unfortunately when the roofing work is nearly finished, it were blown down which the damage costed nearly Rs. 2,000.
In the Tangkhul conference last year, we were so blessed by our gracious Lord that some 8 or 9 villages came and asked schools from Rev. W. Pettigrew, saying that they were very anxious to hear the Gospel. Not only this, but also many people all around seemed to move their minds towards the true Creator. On the other hand, the Missionary said that they have no more money left in their hand for other schools.
This made Christians think more deeply and all began to dis- cuss where to get the required money for capable Christians to preach the Gospel. After praying considerably God answered so mercifully that every Christian who attended the meeting will- ingly offered money from his own pocket. Besides monthly con- tribution is doing well. Thus the native fund amounted nearly Rs. 1,600.
With this money we are supporting 3 evangelists and 6 teachers. We know very well that this fund only will not last very long. When it is finished, we do not know what to do.
After doing we all possibly could, there is no hope to get money from the native Christians till 1923 and 1924 for the majority of the converts have not been understand the value of contributing yet. So, in case of the work stops due to short of money, it would sufifer great loss.
Dear Brethren, I therefore earnestly appeal to you all to pray for blessings from above that the work of self-support of this year may be successfully done to the glory of our Lord and Master. And also pray for another attempt to raise money, so that self-support may be continued to save the life of many poor sinners like us. I enclosed my report with a notice which I think important for all zealous Christians.
It is a foolish policy for one to have an opinion at the present day that an Evangelist should go on without family comfort and his own comforts. L^et us not consider the days of our Lord Jesus Christ, or the time before Christ. But in the time of great apostles, we read in one chapter of Acts that money is distributed
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according to the full needs of each apostle of the Gospel. Like- wise for a devoted Evangelist today must be considered rather seriously knowing all the difficulties. Then let us not hesitate but contribute liberally to the great need of evangelising of our tribes.
Now my dear brothren, please pardon me if there is any mis- take in saying so. May the Holy Spirit approve of our humble service through the blood of Jesus Christ and our Saviour until Manipur is won for him.
Reichumhao, Evangelist and Treasurer.
The following is the statement from the Manipur Home Mission Society written by the treasurer:
Two years ago at the Manipur Association held at Kangpokpi, we organized the " Manipur Home Mission Society," for we know that in some places of Manipur State the Foreign Missionary is not allowed to preach the gospel. So we the native Christian churches and branch churches have pledged above Rs. 300, and with this money we are supporting one teacher at Thorcham vil- lage southwest of Manipur valley, where the missionary is not allowed to enter.
This important work has been going on successfully, and we hope to see greater success if we Christians faithfully push it lorward. Reichumhao, Treasurer.
Christianity is firmly established and deeply rooted in Assam, Burma, Bengal-Orissa, and India. Throughout the entire Empire the churches of all evangelical de- nominations are growing in independence and self-sup- port and are becoming a steadily increasing influence in the life of the people. From a former state of indif- ference and lethargy there is everywhere in the Indian Empire an awakening and eagerness of life, and India makes a tremendous appeal to the Christian who is eager to bring light and truth and the redemptive message of Jesus Christ to the hearts of men and the life of the world.
In Benares I was a guest of one of India's outstanding
KHANTO BELA RAI Midnapore, Bengal-Orissa
Assam: The Future Bright with Hope 157
Christian laymen, Rai Bahadur A. C. Alukerjee, who has been repeatedly chosen by his non-Christian fellow citizens as Secretary of the municipality of Benares, the sacred city of the Hindus. Mr. Alukerjee is universally trusted and honored by Christians of all denominations and by all races of the people of India. In our conversation I asked him one day what he considered the present out- standing need of India. He replied, '' Education, indus- trial education, technical education, agricultural education, above all, Christian education." That the Government recognizes this need is shown from the following para- graph in a Government report of 1920:
From all that has been said in the preceding chapters of this report it will be realized that the uplift of the Indian people, economic, physical, and moral, really resolves itself into a ques- tion of education. Without education the laborer, rural or urban, will continue as at present, poor and helpless, with little initiative to self-help. Without education hygienic progress among the masses is impossible, and social reform is a vain delusion. India's educational problems, framed as they are upon a Gargantuan scale, must find their solution proportionately large. For with- out education India will be confronted in no long time with that supreme peril of modern states, an uninformed democracy, omnipo- tent but irresponsible.
The missionary forces of the church of Jesus Christ have made and are prepared to make a large contribu- tion to the educational progress of the empire. To help meet this need the American Baptist Foreign Mission So- ciety has in its four missions in India 2,699 schools ranging from the kindergarten to the college and uni- versity. We have a total of 90,315 boys and girls under instruction in these schools. These schools must be strengthened, reenforced, and made more effective as centers of Christian instruction and character-building. Our educational work in Burma and India must be thor-
158 Following the Pioneers
ough, that is, accurate and true. If it is not, it is not real education, and it is not Christian education. Our education must be adapted, that is, it must fit boys and girls for the work they have to do, for the life they have to live, and for the environment they have to live in. Our education must be Christian. Let it be scientific and peda- gogically sound, but the aim and spirit, the tone and re- sult, must be unqualifiedly Christian.
The present national awakening is one of the most hope- ful and promising elements in the present situation. The appeal of the new India is an appeal to serve and to help steady and guide a wonderful people at a time of un- paralleled national crisis in the history of a mighty em- pire. In letters from two veteran missionaries in Burma the challenge of the new India is made clear :
Has it occurred to you [says the first writer] what a big call for the vigorous prosecution of the mission work in India is afforded by the scheme of constitutional reform in India?' The attempt being made by the British here is unique. It is to lead the people of India gradually by very definite steps into real democratic government. Now democracy can rest securely on nothing but character, and Christianity can produce the character that India sorely needs to make democracy a success.
And the second writes.
At the time when national self-consciousness is being so strongly accentuated together with the sobering result of the acceptance of new and overwhelming responsibilities, it is becoming increas- ingly evident that Christianity alone affords the answer to the needs of India, social, political, and personal.
The ordination of the first American foreign mission- aries is thus described by Dr. Thomas S. Barbour, form- erly Secretary of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society :
Assam: The Future Bright with Hope 159
On February 6, 1812, five men sat together upon a plain bench in a plain meeting-house in Salem, Mass. They were there be- cause, as they had stated in a communication to the General Association of Massachusetts, their minds were impressed with the duty of personally attempting a mission to the non-Christian world! To this work they were now set apart. The day, we are informed, was " fiercely cold," yet the church was thronged with visitors from far and near. The young men were described by one who was present at the service as " unpretending, modest, of a tender, childlike spirit, but well understanding their aim."
It would be difficult to imagine a greater contrast than is suggested in the thought of the outlook on the enterprise to which Adoniram Judson, Samuel Newell, Samuel Nott, Gordon Hall, and Luther Rice were set apart, then and now. To the congregation gathered for the ordination service India seemed remote almost as another planet. " Though they never expect to return," said the Pano- plast and Missionary Magazine, " they will never be for- gotten." The gates of India they feared might be closed against their coming, as indeed they found them. Other great lands of the East were fast barred against the people of the West and against the religion which these young men were going forth to proclaim. Today East and West are met together. The peoples of Eastern lands are our neighbors. Their doors are wide open. The Christian faith numbers its temples and its great companies of worshipers in all the lands of the Orient. All the great nations of the East are wide-open today, throbbing and vibrant with newly awakened life such as the world has never witnessed before. The most im- pressive fact as one views the present movement in Asia is that it is not an enterprise of individuals. Individuals are borne on the movement. What one feels is the heave of a mighty tide of life moving through the world, greater than men, sfreater than nations, bearing men and nations
160 Following the Pioneers
onward in the grip of greater forces that clearly have an order within them and purpose to fulfil.
The experiences of these years not only illustrate the need of a new life for the world, but constitute an appeal to humanity to launch forth its resources and to attempt mighty tasks, '' to attempt great things for God, and expect great things from God," to rely boldly upon Jesus' own words, '' The works that I do shall ye do also, and greater works than these shall ye do." The greater spirit of sacrifice and noble daring in nations witnessed during the World War comes as a summons to the Christian church to return to the wonder-working days, days of moral and spiritual miracles, days when men achieved the impossible for God and the salvation of men.
Our task is fundamentally a spiritual task. If we de- pend upon material forces alone, we are doomed to cer- tain and irretrievable failure. The gospel of Jesus Christ- is all-sufficient for the individual, the nation, and the race. It need not be changed, and it cannot be given up without darkening the hope of the world. Our hope is in the Lord God who is not far from any one of us, who but waits to fill the hearts of all people with his spirit, that the whole world may be filled with his glory.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Vincent A. Smith, " Oxford History of India from the EarHest Times to the End of 1911." 1919. Maps. Ox- ford University Press, N. Y.
Sir Verney Lovett, '* History of the Indian Nationalist Movement." 1921. F. A. Stokes Company, N. Y.
F. B. Fisher and Gertrude M. WiUiams, " India's Silent Revolution." 1919. Macmillan Company, N. Y.
Sir Thomas W. Holderness, " Peoples and Problems of India." 1912. Henry Holt and Company, N. Y.
William Paton, " Social Ideals in India." 1919. United, Council for Missionary Education, London.
A Commission of Inquiry, " Village Education in India." 1920. Oxford University Press, N. Y.
J. N. Farquhar, "The Crown of Hinduism." 1917. Oxford University Press, N. Y.
J. N. Farquhar, '' Modern Religious Movements in India." 1915. Macmillan Company, N. Y.
W. E. S. Holland, " The Goal of India." 1918. United Council for Missionary Education, London.
Alden H. Clark, " India on the March." 1922. Mis- sionary Education Movement, N. Y.
G. E. Phillips, " The Outcastes' Hope : or Work Among the Depressed Classes in India." 1912. United Council for Missionary Education. London.
John E. Clough, " Social Christianity in the Orient : The Story of a Man, a Mission, and a Movement." 1914. •Macmillan Company, N. Y.
161
162 Bibliography
Ada Lee, " An Indian Priestess : the Life of Chundra Lela." 1902. Morgan and Scott, London. Out of print.
B. H. Streeter and A. J. Appasamy, '' Message of Sadhu Sundar Singh." 192 L Macmillan Company, N. Y.
D. J. Fleming, '' Building with India." Published jointly by Missionary Education Movement of the United States and Canada, New York, and The Central Com- mittee of the United Study of Foreign Missions, West Medford, Mass.
F. Deaville Walker, " India and Her Peoples." 1922. United Council for Missionary Education, London.
H. P. Cochrane, *' Among the Burmans." Fleming H. Revell Co., N. Y.
E. N. Harris, " A Star in the East." Fleming H. Revell Co., N. Y.
Ola Hanson, '' The Kachins." 1913. American Baptist Mission Press, Rangoon.
Valentine Chirol, " India Old and New." 1921. Mac- millan Company, London.
J. N. Cushing, '' Christ and Buddha." The American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia.
George Smith, " Life of William Carey." 1887. E. P. Button, N. Y.
Margaret T. Applegarth, " The Career of a Cobbler." Fleming H. Revell Co.
Wallace St. John, '' Josiah Nelson Cushing." 1912. American Baptist Mission Press, Rangoon.
Edward Judson, " Life of Adoniram Judson." The American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia.
MAPS
British India. Showing Baptist Mission Stations. Paper. 30 inches by 40 inches. 35 cents.
India and Ceylon. Including Burma and Assam, Paper. 38 inches by 47 inches. Showing Mission Sta- tions of all American Societies. 60 cents.
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