Part 11 (1/2)
The tents of some English soldiers were pitched in a lonely part of India; and the night was dark, when an officer's lady thought she heard the sound of a child crying. The lady sent her servants out to look, and at last they brought in a little girl of four years old. And where do you think they had found her? Buried up to her throat in a bog, her little head alone peeping out. And who do you think had put her there? Her cruel mother. Yes, she had left her there to die.
This child gave a great deal of trouble to the kind lady who had saved her, nor did she show her any love in return for her kindness; and after keeping her about two years, the lady sent her to a missionary's school.
You see how cruelly mothers in India sometimes treat their children.
Their religion teaches them to be cruel.
A mother is taught to believe that if her babe is sick, an evil spirit is angry. To please this evil spirit, she will put her babe in a basket, and hang it up in a tree for three days. She goes then to look at it, and if it be alive, she takes it home. But how seldom does she find it alive!
Either the ants or the vultures have eaten it, or it is starved to death.
When there is a famine in the land, many mothers will sell their children for sixpence each: and if they cannot sell them, they will leave them to perish.
One missionary received fifty-one poor starving children into his house: they were always crying, ”Sahib, roti, roti;” that is, ”Master, bread, bread.” But the bread came to late too save their lives; for all died except one.
Yet these sick children were very wicked.
One of them stole a bra.s.s basin, and sold it for sweetmeats. Though very kindly treated, some of them wished to escape; and to prevent it, the missionary tied them together in strings of fifteen;
There is a tribe in India called Khunds; and they sprinkle their fields with children's blood, and they say this is the way to make the corn grow. The English government once rescued eighty poor children from the Khunds, and sent them to a Christian school. What miserable little creatures they were when they arrived! but they were soon clothed and comforted; and taught to hold a needle, and to know their letters; and, better still, to p.r.o.nounce the name of Jesus. Like these poor little captives, we were all condemned to die, till Jesus rescued us, and promised everlasting life to those who believe.
THE ENGLISH IN INDIA.
There are many rich English gentlemen living in India: some are judges, and some are merchants, and some are officers in the army. They dwell in large and grand houses, with many windows down to the ground, and a wide verandah to keep off the sun. Instead of _gla.s.s_, there is _gra.s.s_ in the windows: the blinds are made of sweet-scented gra.s.s, and servants outside continually pour water on the gra.s.s to make the air cool. Instead of _fires_, they have _fans_. These fans are like large screens hanging from the ceiling, and waving to and fro to refresh the company. Instead of carpets there are mats on the floor; and round the beds gauze curtains are drawn to keep out the insects.
The servants are all Hindoos, and a great number are kept; and this is necessary, because each servant will only do one kind of work.
Each horse has two servants, one to take care of it, and the other to cut gra.s.s: even the dog has a boy to look after it alone. The servants do not live in their master's house, but in small huts near. The place where they live is called ”the compound.”
When English people travel they do not go in carriages, but in palanquins. A palanquin is like a child's cot, only larger; and there a traveller can sleep at his ease.
The men who carry the palanquins are called ”Bearers.” The nurses are called Ayahs. Babies are carried out of doors by their ayahs, but children of three or four are taken out by the bearers.
There was once a little girl of three years old who taught her bearer to fear G.o.d.
Little Mary was walking out in a grove with her heathen bearer. She observed him stop at a small Hindoo temple, and bow down to the stone image before the door.
The lisping child inquired,--”Saamy, what for, you do that?”
”O, missy,” said he, ”that is my G.o.d!”
”Your G.o.d!” exclaimed the child, ”your G.o.d, Saamy! Why your G.o.d can no see, no can hear, no can walk--your G.o.d stone! My G.o.d make you, make me, make everything!” Yet Saamy still, whenever he pa.s.sed the temple, bowed down to his idol: and still the child reproved him. Though the old man would not mind, yet he loved his baby teacher. Once when he thought she was going to England he said to her,--”What will poor Saamy do when missy go to England? Saamy no father, no mother.”
”O Saamy!” replied the child, ”if you love G.o.d he will be your father, and mother too.”
The poor bearer promised with tears in his eyes that he would love G.o.d.
”Then,” said she, ”you must learn my prayers;” and she began to teach him the Lord's Prayer. Soon afterwards Mary's papa was surprised to see the bearer enter the room at the time of family prayers, and still more surprised to see him take off his turban, kneel down, and repeat the Lord's Prayer after his master. The lispings of the babe had brought the old man to G.o.d: Saamy did not only bow the knee, he wors.h.i.+pped in spirit and in truth, and became a real Christian.
CHIEF CITIES.
There are three great cities which may be called English cities, though in India: because Englishmen built them, and live in them, and rule over them. Their names are Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.