Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877 Part 8

In consequence of this change some have advocated the entire withdrawal of mission agency from the schools where the higher education is imparted. It has been said, "Why should missionaries from day to day be doing the work of mere secular teachers, in hope that during the short time allotted for Christian instruction to young men, indisposed to receive it, they can secure their spiritual good?" If they withdraw, what then? The alternative is the loss of influence over a cla.s.s that may be expected to take the lead in all movements of their people, and their transfer to teachers who are, in many cases, the avowed and bitter foes of Christianity, and whose object will be to imbue them with their own sentiments. There is abundant testimony to the fact that the pupils of mission schools regard missionaries with a friendly feeling, and diffuse that feeling in their respective circles, and also show respect for the Gospel even when they argue against it to justify their adherence to their ancestral religion. May it not be hoped, too, that in many minds a conviction is left that Christianity is the religion of heaven, although there are formidable obstacles to that conviction obtaining sway over the heart and life? There have been instances where the conviction has broken through every obstacle, and has been avowed by open profession of faith in Christ. Our Missionary Societies may well shrink from the abandonment of a sphere which furnishes the opportunity for favourable influence over so many minds--and minds, too, which are sure to be very influential in the community.

[Sidenote: SABBATH SCHOOLS.]

The preferable plan has been adopted. It appears from the latest statistics that the number of students in mission schools is greater, and the course of study more advanced, than at any previous period. I am not aware that any of the missionaries in the higher inst.i.tutions have proposed to abandon them on account of the new state of things. While giving themselves cheerfully to the imparting of the education which their pupils are eager to acquire, they put forth resolute steady effort to counteract the secularizing tendency of their studies. The a.s.sembled school is opened with prayer, Scripture lessons are given, and, taught as they are by Christians, the pupils are under Christian influence during all their school hours. It is common in the North-West, and I suppose in other parts of India, to have services in the schools on Sabbath morning, at which the attendance is voluntary; and at Benares, at least, the attendance has been very encouraging. Of late Sabbath schools, apart from day schools, have been established in many missions, with every prospect of success. The attendance is large, and in some places a number of parents are present. These schools are carried on largely on the English and American model. The international lessons are used, pictures and books are given as prizes to attentive scholars; and they have a yearly treat, in conducting which care is taken against the violation of caste. The American Episcopal missionaries have taken the lead in this new departure.

It has been often remarked that our higher schools can show very few converts. The conversions have not been many, and yet they have not been so inconsiderable in number as they have been represented. When we look at our mission agents we find that a large proportion of our most efficient men, the men that have done the best service, have come from these schools. At the great Missionary Conference at Allahabad in 1874, at which I was present, they acquitted themselves in a manner which attested their mental power and Christian earnestness, and gave one a high opinion of their fitness for evangelistic work among their countrymen. At the late Decennial Missionary Conference in Calcutta they took a prominent and effective part. It is, indeed, a matter for deep regret that of late our accessions from this quarter have been few; but when hope has been at the lowest ebb one has appeared here and there to strengthen it by avowing himself a follower of Christ.[3]

[Footnote 3: At the Calcutta Conference there was much discussion about schools, especially of the higher order. Experienced educationalists gave expression to their views, some stating in strong terms the aversion to Bible lessons shown by many of the pupils; while others, among whom Mr. Miller of Madras was prominent, represented the pupils as generally willing to receive Christian instruction.]

In reference to our schools, in reference to our work generally, it is important to keep before our minds the great power of public opinion.

Many are the things which go to form it; it is very subtle in its working; the most acute and observant mind cannot estimate its force: but when once widely formed its effects are remarkable. In India public opinion is formed much more slowly than in a land like ours; the const.i.tution of society presents a stronger front to its action. But there too it works, and when it works on till it has obtained overmastering power we may expect to see a marvellous change. We cannot doubt that missions have a high place in forming this opinion; and among mission agencies I believe there is no one which has told and is telling more beneficially on the people than our mission schools.

CHAPTER XIII.

ORPHANAGES.

All over India missions have had orphans under their charge, but from personal knowledge I can only speak of the North-West.

[Sidenote: FAMINE IN THE LAND.]

The need for these inst.i.tutions was most pressing in 1838 and 1839. I remember hearing, on my arrival at Benares, the most harrowing account of the fearful sufferings of the people over a great extent of country.

The famine had been sore in the land. People fled from their towns and villages, hoping to reach a more favoured region; but travelling through districts as dest.i.tute of food as those they left, they received no help, and perished miserably. The weak and the very young were the first to succ.u.mb. Many struggled on, eating gra.s.s or anything that could allay the pangs of hunger, in the hope of reaching the cities where they could expect relief from their own people, and still more from their English rulers. At that time Agra was the seat of government for the North-West, and as the famine was specially severe in that district, so great a mult.i.tude poured into it that, notwithstanding the strenuous effort put forth by Europeans, official and non-official, helped by wealthy and benevolent natives, only partial relief could be afforded. The means of communication between one part of India and another were, even at that time, far better than they had been in the days of native rule; much had been done to improve the roads, but owing to the distance of places where food was comparatively abundant, and the length of time and the expense incurred in conveying it to the afflicted districts, timely help was not obtained. Many children were abandoned, and the authorities sent out orders to their subordinates to rescue these waifs and feed them till arrangements could be made for their support.

Missionaries felt themselves called on to offer their services in this dreadful emergency, and the offer was readily accepted. The large expenditure for which they thus became responsible was met by a small allowance made by Government for each child, by a grant from a Famine Fund which had been raised, and by contributions received by missionaries from friends to help them in this new undertaking.

The inst.i.tutions then established have become permanent. The places left vacant by the death of many of the first inmates, and the entrance into active life of those who survived, were soon filled by others who had equal claims on Christian compa.s.sion. On the occasion of great melas children are often lost, and in not a few cases their parents are never found. In the great cities, by the death of parents, and by the abandonment of children--sometimes through extreme dest.i.tution, at other times by unnatural indifference--helpless little ones are cast on the pity of the public. From country places forsaken children are sent to the head-quarters of districts. In seasons of scarcity, which frequently occur, and especially in famine years such as 1861, large additions are made to the number of orphans. With these causes operating to produce the cla.s.s from which orphanages are recruited, there is no likelihood of the time coming when they will not be needed. The people, as a rule, are undoubtedly kind to children; but when we consider the great poverty of many, the extreme difficulty with which they obtain the necessaries of life, there is no reason to wonder at the cases of dest.i.tution which are continually presenting themselves. In our own country, with all its advantages, we have numerous orphanages, where many are sheltered and trained for useful life, who would otherwise be thrown as waifs on the surface of society.

[Sidenote: SANGUINE HOPES.]

When orphanages were first formed in Northern India, great hope was entertained they would not merely relieve present and pressing distress, and do good to a large number of dest.i.tute young persons, but would tell powerfully on native society, and lead to the formation of a large, strong Christian community. The sufferings of the people afflicted by famine were deplored, they were regarded with deep pity; everything was done which could be done to relieve them, but it was hoped that out of this calamitous state of affairs would be evolved, through the overruling of Providence, a signal moral and spiritual benefit to the people generally. Here was a large band of boys and girls taken out of native society, cut off from idolatrous training and a.s.sociations, and made over in the most plastic season of their lives to be moulded by those whose supreme aim would be to strengthen and elevate their character, and prepare them for a happy, useful, and honourable career.

It was hoped that when these children thus trained grew to manhood and womanhood, they would go out among their countrymen striking examples of moral and spiritual excellence, and would by their manifest superiority make a greater impression on the minds of the people than could be made by the preaching and efforts of missionaries. A worthy chaplain sent out a pamphlet advocating the gathering by Government of all the orphan children in the country, and, if I remember rightly, of all the children with whom parents were willing to part, and the placing of them in inst.i.tutions where they should be brought up as Christians, and as members of the Church of England. He maintained that if this was done, in the course of a few years a great number would go out to native society to leaven it with Christian sentiment, and with loyalty to the British Government. He drew a glowing picture of the good that would be accomplished if this policy were adopted and vigorously carried out. Few were so hopeful as my friend, but many did antic.i.p.ate great results.

It cannot be doubted that orphan inst.i.tutions have done much good; but I think none will maintain that the sanguine hopes with which they were begun have been realized. There have been obstacles in the way of success which might have been partly foreseen, but which could not have been fully antic.i.p.ated. Many of the children brought to the missionaries were so sickly and emaciated, that they soon died in spite of all the attention bestowed on them. The mortality has been at times most depressing. There was no vitality to resist disease. The effort to preserve life was in many cases frustrated by the vitiated taste of the children, which led them to eat lime, earth, garbage of any kind on which they could lay their hands, in preference to good food. They were closely watched, but it was impossible to watch them so closely as to prevent them from doing that which hurried them to the grave.

[Sidenote: THE DIFFICULTIES IN ORPHAN MANAGEMENT.]

The orphans were of different ages, from very early youth to fourteen or fifteen. The elder ones were steeped in the spirit of the cla.s.s from which they came--as a rule the lowest cla.s.s of the community; and the younger ones had in their very blood hereditary qualities which put obstacles in the way of successful training. We do not believe there is in blood the overpowering efficacy which some have attributed to it; if it had, responsibility would cease, and the effort to raise certain tribes and cla.s.ses would be hopeless; but we believe it has a strong influence, and we think we have seen clear evidence of its hurtful effect on Indian orphans. There were these difficulties to begin with.

And then it was impossible to bring these children under the happy influence of an orderly living family. In our own country it has been found highly conducive to the right bringing-up of orphans, to the repressing of evil tendencies, and the drawing forth of the finer elements of character, to secure for them domestic training to the utmost extent circ.u.mstances will permit. The keeping of many together, not merely taught together, which is very desirable, but eating together, sleeping together, constantly acting and reacting on each other, is found very unfavourable to the formation of the right character, however careful, wise, and kindly the superintendence may be.

In India, where hundreds of orphans were brought at once to mission premises, this gregarious life was unavoidable. Besides, it is impossible to separate orphans from the community around so completely as to leave them unaffected by its moral atmosphere.

There was of course a difference in the qualifications of those who undertook this great charge, some being more fitted for it than others; but this we say with the utmost confidence, after an intimate acquaintance with the working of some of the larger orphanages, and a general knowledge of others, that they have been managed with a laboriousness, a patience, a wisdom, and a kindness, deserving of the highest praise. Those in charge acted as parents, so far as that was possible, but in the nature of things there could not be the close attention and the fond personal affection to each of ordinary domestic life. We remember cases where children were committed to well-ordered Christian families with happy results, but for many years after orphanages were founded there were no such families to receive them.

[Sidenote: THE OCCUPATIONS OF ORPHANS.]

With the exception of orphans sent to Baptist Missions, they were as a rule baptized at once, and were thus brought within the pale of the Christian Church to be trained for the love and service of Christ. The first place was given to Christian instruction and training. All were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Those who proved themselves capable of receiving a higher education were continued at school, in the hope of their becoming qualified for offices such as those of teacher and preacher, for which mental and moral fitness was indispensable. The great majority were early taught a trade. In the larger orphanages a variety of trades was introduced--tailoring, carpentry, baking, dyeing, carpet-making, printing, bookbinding, and farming. Some of these trades, after much labour had been bestowed upon them, were given up, as it was found the orphans could not compete with native workmen. They had not the energy and apt.i.tude possessed by those who followed their ancestral occupations, and who had been from their earliest years familiar with the conditions of native trade. Hopes were entertained many would betake themselves to farming. These hopes have been only partially realized.

On land secured by the Church Mission of Benares, at a short distance from the city, orphans when they grew up were settled; but few took kindly to the work, and most soon abandoned it. There are now a few Christian families on the ground, but the larger part of the land is let to ordinary native agriculturists. In some places, such as Goruckpore and Shahjehanpore, the experiment has been successful. A greater number have continued at printing and bookbinding than at other trades.

Co-operative a.s.sociations of native Christians have been formed at Allahabad for printing, and at Futtygurh for tent-making, which I believe continue to prosper. These a.s.sociations are under unfettered native management. A considerable number who have come out of orphan inst.i.tutions have followed the trades they were taught, and have succeeded in getting employment in different places. Many were trained as servants, and in that capacity they are scattered over all Northern India. These have been joined by not a few who were taught trades, but did not continue in them, as they deemed service easier and more profitable. This is much to be regretted as native Christians in service are exposed to many disadvantages and temptations from their fellow-servants, and too often from their European masters and mistresses. The position of a capable artisan is far superior.

It must be acknowledged by those who have the kindest feeling towards the orphans, and who wish to entertain the most favourable opinion of them, which truth will permit, that they have often been wanting in energy and self-reliance. There has been a tendency to lean unduly on those to whom they have been indebted for the preservation of their lives, and for everything which makes life desirable. They have been accustomed to call them, in the language of the country, _ma, bap_--_mother, father_--and to expect everything to be done for them as if they were still helpless children. This can not be said of all, but it must be acknowledged this unduly dependent spirit has been often shown. A greater wrong could not be done to orphans, when grown to maturity, than to treat them as children, unable to make their own way in the world. This would be to destroy all strength of character, and turn them into abject, and at the same time discontented, paupers. Few have been so dest.i.tute of common sense as to have supposed that in this way they were to be supported, but there has been a tendency to expect the missionaries to set them out on a career of self-support, and remove all obstacles in their way without any special effort on their part, and when difficulties have arisen to fall back on their missionary friends to set them out afresh. When these expectations have not been realized, they have been disposed to view their guardians as having failed in parental duty and affection. We have known cases where the rough experience of life has taught self-dependence, and thankfulness also for the treatment, which at the time was regarded as unkind, but had led to lasting benefit. So far as we have been able to ascertain, the ordinary feeling among those who had been inmates of orphan inst.i.tutions, and of their descendants, has been one of affection and grat.i.tude to those who have watched over them and provided for them in their days of helplessness, and who have toiled and in many cases suffered to promote their temporal and spiritual good. When travelling we have met many of this cla.s.s, and have been much gratified by the spirit they have shown.

Some have come out of orphanages well equipped for the highest work by character and attainments. As teachers, catechists, and native preachers, these occupy honourable and useful positions, and have been a great blessing to the Church and the world. In the course of our residence in India we have seen many of the missions in the North-West, but our acquaintance with them is too slight to enable us to mention the number given by orphanages to the higher cla.s.s of native agents. We have known several who are worthy of all respect, confidence, and affection.

[Sidenote: ORPHANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS.]

To the question, "What is the general character of the large community of native Christians formed of orphans and their descendants?" it is difficult to give a satisfactory reply, though easy enough to give one's impression. A characterization of communities is one of the most common and at the same time most unsatisfactory of operations, as the data for its being done well are so wide, recondite, and difficult to grasp. As I proceed I shall have occasion to give my views of native Christians generally. All I can now say about orphans and their descendants is, that considering what human beings are, as shown from age to age, considering the circ.u.mstances and surroundings of those of whom we are speaking, the moral and spiritual results are what might have been expected, though not all that had been wished for and hoped for.

Sanguine spirits had hoped that they would have had a striking superiority to their fellow-countrymen, which would have drawn forth their wonder and led them to inquire whence the superiority had come; but no one will maintain this has been the case. A few, I believe very few, have turned out utterly reprobate. The character of some who have not lapsed into gross wickedness has been very unsatisfactory. Many are respectable members of society, and make the profession of religion implied in attending public worship and calling themselves Christians. A considerable number show in different ways spiritual character. What more can be said of congregations composed of those whose advantages have been immeasurably greater? It would have been a most pleasing, but at the same time a most remarkable and unparalleled result, if orphans brought up under the charge of missionaries had gone forth a united band, with no defaulters, to maintain the cause of G.o.d among their countrymen, by a life so adorned with excellence that its testimony to Christ could not be resisted. The result actually attained, though chequered, is sufficient to show that orphan inst.i.tutions have by the Divine blessing done much good, and that the faithful labour bestowed on them has borne gratifying fruit.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XIV.

MISSION TOURS.

In our own country, under the pressure of life, many hail the release from toil and the refreshment of spirit promised by the annual summer trip. So in India missionaries avail themselves of the cold season to sally out for the prosecution of their work. Their main object is to make known the gospel to the many whom they are sure to meet wherever their tent may be pitched, who have never heard the name of Jesus, except perhaps amidst the bustle and noise of a mela, and who but for itineracies would remain in total ignorance of the Saviour of mankind.

The missionary who does not keep this before his mind as his chief aim is unworthy of the name. While this object is pursued, another is sought which missionaries deem very legitimate. Health is indispensable for the efficient discharge of their duties, and travelling is found very beneficial to the health of their families as well as to their own.

Touring in the cold weather, by the new strength it gives to the body and the refreshment it gives to the spirit, has been found to prepare them for a new campaign at home as nothing else could have done.

Some missionaries have kept themselves within a limited sphere not far from their homes, visiting the same places again and again, obtaining a personal acquaintance with many of the people, and endeavouring to deepen any impressions which may have been made. Others have travelled for weeks, sometimes for months, over hundreds of miles, visiting the towns and villages on their route, and speaking about the things of G.o.d to all whom they have met.

During my long residence in India it was my privilege to undertake tours of both descriptions. I never stopped at home during the cold weather--we are not in India in the habit of saying "summer and winter,"

but "hot weather and cold weather"--except when justice to my colleagues, or the necessities of the mission, compelled me to stay.

There were seasons when my colleague was, either from inexperience or ill-health, unable to do the home work; or, as happened more than once, I had no colleague at all, and in these circ.u.mstances it was obvious duty to remain at my post. Even then I commonly managed to get out a little into the surrounding country. On some of our tours we were put to no small inconvenience, and we were not strangers to hardship; but we look back to them with much pleasure, and think how much we would like to set out on them again if circ.u.mstances permitted.

[Sidenote: VOYAGING ON THE GANGES.]

At an early stage of our residence at Benares voyaging on the Ganges was a favourite mode of enjoying the cold season. There were budgerows, vessels with two tolerably sized rooms, available for hire at a moderate charge. It was indispensable to have with the budgerow a small boat for the accommodation of servants and for the cooking of food. On a few occasions I took a trip on a vessel of this description with my family, moving up and down the river, and halting towards evening near a town or village, which I could visit for the purpose of speaking to the people about the Saviour. The country is so populous that there was no difficulty in mooring our little craft in the evening near some place where hearers could be collected. It was seldom on any tour in the North-West we were allowed to forget that we were in the region of the sacred river, which receives from the people divine honours, and which in their belief confers inestimable benefit on all who bathe in its waters. When on the bank of the river, its alleged virtues formed a frequent subject of remark and discussion. There, as elsewhere, we had to tell them that Ganges water, however good for refreshing and cleansing the body, cannot wash away one spot from the soul. We had to tell them frequently, that as the washerman who puts clothes into a box and carefully washes it with the expectation of their coming out clean and white will be acting a very foolish part, so they were acting an equally futile part if they supposed that the water of the Ganges, so useful for the body, had any effect on the spirit. In answer to the remark that Ganges water could not do what other water could not, as it had nothing peculiar in its composition, I have been gravely told that two things exactly the same to the senses may be essentially different; and the proof given was that the river Kurumnasa, which means the destroyer of merit, takes away all merit from those who bathe in it, while bathing in the Ganges secures an untold degree of merit, extending not only to one's own past and future, but to an untold number of ancestors and descendants!

When on the Ganges or its banks one continually sees proof of the implicit trust placed in it. We remember being awakened very early one morning long before dawn by a person bathing close to our boat, in a quivering voice which showed he was chilled by the water, long and earnestly imploring the favour of _Gunga Ma_--Mother Ganges.

There is no part of India, mountain or plain, where serpents may not be encountered. One evening, when returning to our boat from a village on the banks of the river, I was walking warily on a narrow path half-covered with gra.s.s from both sides, when I saw before me what I first supposed to be a rope. I halted, and immediately a serpent glided away. That evening, before reaching the boat, I saw at least a dozen of serpents at their evening gambols over the ruins of a house. I walked quietly on, deeming it the best part of valour to leave them undisturbed. If they observed me they showed no inclination to approach me.

For many years voyaging on the Ganges has gone out of fashion. Native boats laden with produce and wood continue to ply, but the budgerows and pinnaces, which Europeans could hire, have almost entirely disappeared.

There are various reasons for this change. The current of the river is very rapid in some places, which makes the work of dragging against it very slow and tiresome; there is sometimes the danger of collision with other boats. The high banks of the river here and there prevent the country from being seen, and at other places there is a dreary stretch of sand. Though the weather of the cold season is very steady, a storm might come on, and if it did neither boat nor boatmen could be trusted; for the boat, never of the best material, was often sadly out of repair, and the boatmen were ready, when danger appeared, to throw themselves into the water and make for the sh.o.r.e, leaving the pa.s.sengers to shift for themselves. There was, indeed, the pleasantness of sailing on a broad river; the air was very fresh; there was no leaving of the temporary abode from day to day; the trouble of a shifting camp was escaped, though occasionally there was inconvenience from the indispensable cook-boat not keeping sufficiently near. Opposed to these advantages were the disadvantages I have mentioned, which were always felt to be serious drawbacks; and when the roads had been improved, and journeying facilities increased, travelling by land obtained so decided a preference, that the river has been well-nigh abandoned by Europeans.

[Sidenote: SHORT AND LONG TOURS.]

Some seasons our touring was confined to a narrow range, not extending beyond thirty or forty miles. We every now and then spent a few days within a few miles of the city. Our first journey of any considerable length was, at the end of 1840, to the mela at Allahabad, some seventy miles north-west of Benares, which I have already mentioned. At the end of 1842 I made a tour along with my wife and child to Agra, more than four hundred miles from Benares, which occupied us about three months.

On this tour we pa.s.sed through Allahabad, Cawnpore, Futtygurh, Mynpoorie, and other well-known places. Early in 1847, accompanied by a brother missionary, we went to Almora, nearly six hundred miles distant, travelling with our tents to the foot of the hills, and spending six or seven weeks on our way. We left Almora for Benares in October, and reached it early in December, having taken Meerut, Delhi, and Allygurh, as well as Cawnpore and Allahabad, in our return route. Our long journeys many years afterwards were performed with few exceptions under new conditions, and with much greater expedition.

If my readers are in thought to accompany us on those journeys, it may be well to state the circ.u.mstances in which we travelled, the weather we had and could generally expect, our travelling arrangements, the state of the roads, and the aspects of the country through which we pa.s.sed.