{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_72797/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_72797","id":"gutenberg_72797","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/72797","summary":null,"tags":["Burma -- Description and travel","Burma -- Social life and customs","Category: Biographies","Category: History - Other","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Methodist Episcopal Church -- Missions","Missionaries -- Burma -- Biography","Smith, Julius"],"text":"Transcriber\u2019s Note: Italics are enclosed in _underscores_. Additional\nnotes will be found near the end of this ebook.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration: _Julius Smith_]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n                               _Ten Years\n                               in Burma_\n\n                                  _By\n                           REV. JULIUS SMITH_\n\n\n                      _CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & PYE\n                        NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS_\n\n\n\n\n                               _COPYRIGHT\n                                1902 BY\n                                JENNINGS\n                                 & PYE_\n\n                             [Illustration]\n\n                              _ALL RIGHTS\n                               RESERVED_\n\n\n\n\n_PREFACE_\n\n\nThe following account of life in Burma has been written to make the\ncountry and its people better known in America. At this time, when the\nUnited States has come into possession of large and important tropical\nlands, there is much quickening of interest in all such countries.\nBurma is much like the Philippine Islands in climate, and there is\ngreat racial similarity between the Burmese race and the Tagals.\n\nBut I have written chiefly to record the experiences and observations\nof a missionary in a great and important mission-field, which is not so\nwell known in the home land as it deserves to be. My purpose has been\nto make the condition of missionary life, and much of other life, real\nto the reader, who has had no experience in a tropical country. It is\nhoped that this presentation of facts will add to missionary knowledge,\nand secure a better acquaintance with the races of Asia and the forces\nof civilization that are making for the uplift of Asiatic peoples.\n\nIn writing of mission work in Burma, I have given special prominence\nto that under the control of the Methodist Episcopal Church. There has\nbeen no printed account of this mission for the twenty-two years of its\nhistory, and it seems well to give some permanent form to the record\nof that which has been undertaken by our little band of missionaries in\nthat field.\n\nIn writing of races, social life, and government, I have, of course,\nwritten of that which is seen through a missionary\u2019s eyes. It so\nhappens that I have had a great deal to do with people of various\nnationalities, in relations not directly of a missionary character.\nThis has given me many opportunities to observe as a man, regardless\nof my calling. In all respects I have tried to be fair and accurate. I\nhave always cherished a fellow-feeling with men whose labors brought\nthem to Asia, and my sympathies have been with all such in honorable\ncallings. It has been my purpose to reflect the conditions of life\nwith which they are surrounded. There has been much excluded that I\nwould gladly have recorded, if the limit of this book had allowed\nthe additional facts. Some incompleteness of statement has been\nunavoidable, as I could not verify the details at the time and place\nof writing. Ten years is a short time to study great questions in the\nEast, and to form conclusions on the greatest of them; but I trust\nthat enough of well-digested facts has been told in this book to\ngive the student of missions and mission lands an inside view of the\nquestions discussed. For such defects as are due to the limitations of\nthe author\u2019s ability to gather or to present facts in a satisfactory\nmanner, I must trust to the generous sentiments of the reader.\n\n                                                       JULIUS SMITH.\n\n\n\n\n_TABLE OF CONTENTS_\n\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n     I.  FROM AMERICA TO BURMA,                                       13\n\n    II.  FIRST YEAR IN BURMA,                                         34\n\n   III.  A YEAR OF CHANGES,                                           57\n\n    IV.  THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF BURMA,                              70\n\n     V.  THE CITY OF RANGOON,                                         87\n\n    VI.  EUROPEANS, ANGLO-INDIANS, EURASIANS,                        109\n\n   VII.  CHARACTERISTICS OF RACES OF BURMA,                          122\n\n  VIII.  BUDDHISM,                                                   139\n\n    IX.  BUDDHISM; HOW MAINTAINED,                                   153\n\n     X.  BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED,                       169\n\n    XI.  RIPENED FRUIT OF NON-CHRISTIAN FAITHS,                      180\n\n   XII.  OUTLINE OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS, BURMA,                       201\n\n  XIII.  METHODIST EPISCOPAL MISSION, BURMA,                         216\n\n   XIV.  PREACHING IN FOUR ASIATIC LANGUAGES,                        236\n\n    XV.  A UNIQUE ENTERPRISE,                                        263\n\n   XVI.  THE PRESENT SITUATION IN MISSIONS,                          293\n\n  XVII.  BENEFITS OF BRITISH RULE IN SOUTHERN ASIA,                  308\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS_\n\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n   1.  JULIUS SMITH,                              _Frontispiece_.\n\n   2.  SWAY DAGON PAGODA,                                             27\n\n   3.  METHODIST CHURCH, RANGOON,                                     37\n\n   4.  NATIVES OF BURMA,                                              43\n\n   5.  PADDY-BOAT,                                                    75\n\n   6.  THE ELEPHANT AT WORK,                                          83\n\n   7.  THE NEW PUBLIC OFFICES, RANGOON,                               93\n\n   8.  THE MOSQUE, RANGOON,                                           99\n\n   9.  ENTRANCE OF SWAY DAGON PAGODA,                                103\n\n  10.  ROYAL LAKES AT EVENTIDE, RANGOON,                             107\n\n  11.  A BURMESE FAMILY,                                             127\n\n  12.  SHRINE, SWAY DAGON PAGODA,                                    143\n\n  13.  FRONT OF A GAUTAMA TEMPLE,                                    149\n\n  14.  BUDDHIST MONK AND ATTENDANT,                                  157\n\n  15.  FUNERAL PYRE OF A BURMESE PRIEST,                             163\n\n  16.  FESTIVITIES AT A POUNGYI\u2019S CREMATION,                         199\n\n  17.  METHODIST GIRLS\u2019 SCHOOL, RANGOON,                             219\n\n  18.  CHARLOTTE O\u2019NEAL INSTITUTE, RANGOON,                          223\n\n  19.  LARGE IMAGE AT PEGU,                                          255\n\n  20.  MISS PERKINS AND GROUP OF GIRLS AT THANDAUNG,                 275\n\n  21.  FIRST PERMANENT BUILDING ON THANDAUNG,                        283\n\n  22.  BURMESE FESTIVAL CART,                                        315\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                              _Ten Years\n                               in Burma_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nFrom America to Burma\n\n\nThe Church of Jesus Christ has just closed its first century of\nmissionary effort within modern times. The nineteenth century began\nwith only a few heroic spirits urging the Church to awake to its\nresponsibility of giving the gospel to the Christless nations.\nThe century has just closed with a steadily increasing army of\nmissionaries, who are determined to give the gospel to every man in\nhis own tongue at the earliest possible day, while the whole Church\nis beginning to feel the missionary impulse, so far at least, that an\nincreasing multitude are eager to hear of mission lands, the condition\nof the peoples without Christ, the victories of the gospel, and to have\nsome share in its triumph.\n\nAdoniram Judson, the great missionary hero, enrolled the land of Burma\nin the list of great mission-fields. He began his labors in Burma\nduring the second decade of the century. The following pages are\nwritten as a report of missionary labors and observations in that land\nin the closing ten years of the century.\n\nHow the writer came to be a missionary, and to be honored with an\nappointment to Burma, may warrant a brief statement. In almost all\nlife\u2019s important steps, individual influence proves the determining\nfactor. This is true in my call to the mission-field. In 1867, when\nonly ten years of age, living on my father\u2019s farm in Andrew County,\nMo., I heard a Methodist preacher make a plea for the heathen world. I\nhave never been able to recall his name, that being the only time he\never preached in that place, which was a schoolhouse on my father\u2019s\nfarm. The sermon made a profound impression on me, and I decided to\ngive half of my little fortune of one dollar, saved from pennies,\nto the cause of missions, with pleadings for which he so warmed our\nhearts and moved our eyes to tears. Later experiences have shown that\nmissionary sermon to have been the most potential influence of my\nchildhood or youth in determining what I should be in after years. The\nexperience itself seemed to die away for a term of years, due, I think,\nto the fact that I had little religious training and no missionary\ninformation during youth. The reawakening of missionary interest came\nin 1880, when in college in the Iowa Wesleyan University I heard\nWilliam Taylor tell of his missionary labors in many lands. Had I then\nbeen near the close of my college course, instead of at its beginning,\nI would have volunteered to go to his mission in South America. Seven\nor eight years went by, and I was in Garrett Biblical Institute. At\nthat time Bishop Thoburn delivered a series of thrilling missionary\naddresses to the school. I now think, though without being clearly\nconscious of it, that from that time I was called to go to India. In\n1889, I was pastor of the Arlington Methodist Church in Kansas City,\nMo., and so became one of the entertainers of the Missionary Committee\nthat met in the city that year. In listening to the missionary\naddresses for ten days, and more especially in conversation with Dr.\nOldham, who was present, being commissioned by Bishop Thoburn to\nsecure re-enforcements for India, the whole question whether my wife\nand I should offer ourselves to the Missionary Society for work in\nthe foreign field came up for final settlement. I sought the counsel\nof Bishop Ninde, who had once been to India, and whose kindly manner\nalways invited confidences of this sort. He agreed to come and spend\na day with us, two months later, which he did, and as a result of his\ncounsel and advice, we decided to offer to go to India as missionaries.\nThe offer was promptly accepted, and from that time we laid our plans\nto leave for our new field of work the following fall. It has always\nbeen an inspiring memory to recall the steps by which we were led to\nlet go of America and set our faces toward Asia, and the personal\nagencies that led us to this decision.\n\nThere was another consideration which had great weight in our choice\nof the foreign mission-field. At home there are men ready for all\nplaces. In the foreign mission-fields, especially in Southern Asia,\nto which we were drawn, there are several places for every man. Here\nany one of a dozen valuable men can be had for any important charge.\nOn the mission-fields there are most important posts that call in\nvain for re-enforcements. At home supplies can be had to meet any\nemergency within a very short time; but on the mission-field we often\nmust wait years for the right man. I left Kansas City in the morning,\nand my successor, a very worthy and successful man, arrived in the\nevening of the same day. But out in Burma I have pleaded for years for\none man to re-enforce the mission. The Arlington Church, which I was\nserving, was then and is now a very enjoyable pastorate--one in which\nthe people, always cherish their pastor, and better, where they have\nfrom the founding of the Church cordially supported every effort for\nthe salvation of men. The decision to leave that Church to go half way\nround the world to a people I had never seen, was largely due to the\nfact that we were needed most on this picket-line of missions, and good\nmen, who for any reason could not go to the foreign fields, could be\nfound to take up promptly the work I laid down at home.\n\nThe farewells in Kansas City were of the cheerful and happy kind that\nsend missionaries on their way to their peculiar missions strong in\nheart. Arlington Church spoke its own farewell in a reception to their\npastor and his family, while Grand Avenue Church, the Methodists\nof Kansas City, followed with a general reception to the outgoing\nmissionaries. This general gathering was under the direction of the\npastor, Dr. Jesse Bowman Young, and Dr. O.\u00a0M. Stewart, the presiding\nelder. The latter sounded the note of cheerfulness for the farewell.\nHe said, \u201cLet us have nothing of a funeral sort about this reception.\u201d\nWe have always thanked him for the cheerful and hopeful tone which\nran all through the meeting. Dr. Young was of the same spirit, and\nin his address, which at one moment bordered on the emotional at\nthe thought of a long parting from those to whom he had been one of\nthe best of friends, recovered himself by saying, \u201cIf you discover\nanything suspicious in my eyes, charge it up to the hayfever.\u201d These\ngood brethren did more than they knew to set a standard of joyful\nanticipation on the part of the Church and the outgoing missionaries in\nthe honorable service to which they were called, that toned up their\ncourage when facing the actual separation from home ties. This was of\nvery great value to us who were leaving a very enjoyable pastorate, a\nnative land in which we had taken deep root, and most of all, an aged\nfather and mother.\n\nWe left Kansas City on September 3, 1890, and after a little over two\nmonths spent in resting and arranging our affairs, we sailed from New\nYork for Liverpool on November 12th. The closing hours in New York were\nvery different from those in Kansas City, and made it appear very real\nto us that we were being plucked up from the home land and transplanted\nto a foreign country. We had no acquaintances at all in New York,\nexcept one of the Missionary Secretaries, who had visited us in Kansas\nCity. He and his associates were as kind as they could be; but then as\nnow, they were men worked beyond their strength with the burdens of\nbusiness there is upon them, and at that particular time were hurried\nto get off to Boston, to the annual Missionary Committee meeting, and\nthey had to tell us a hasty farewell at the Mission Rooms, and leave us\nto go alone to the ship. While our sailing was more lonely than that of\nmost missionaries, yet it is now the custom to make very little out of\nthe departure of men and women to mission-fields, however distant. The\nolder missionaries contrast this formal dispatch of recruits with the\ncustom of forty years ago, when men still in active service, were first\nsent out. Then it was the plan to have the new missionaries gathered\nin one or more churches, and after speeches and exchange of good-will\nall around, to send them forth with the feeling that their outgoing on\nthis great mission was a matter of moment to the whole Church. It is\npresumable that custom may change in this matter from time to time, and\nespecially as the number and frequency of the departure of missionaries\nincrease; but it is certain that the departure of missionaries to our\ndistant fields on this, the highest mission of the Church, can not be\nmade less of than it has been in recent years.\n\nWe sailed on the steamship _City of New York_, the largest and swiftest\nship then afloat. She loosed her moorings at five o\u2019clock in the\nmorning of November 12th. It was a gloomy morning with a cold rain,\nand though I was on deck to note any objects of interest amidst the\ngloom, nothing at all of importance was in view, save the Statue of\nLiberty holding its light aloft in the harbor. No departure from the\nshores of the home-land could have been less cheering and romantic.\nBut as the great ship made her way out to sea, there was a peculiar\nsatisfaction in the feeling that came over us, that we were actually on\nour way to Burma. Some time before sailing, it had been decided that\nwe would go there, making headquarters at Rangoon, the capital of that\nprovince of the Indian Empire.\n\nOur voyage across the Atlantic was uneventful for the most part, but\nnot uninteresting. On a great ship one has a good opportunity to study\nhis fellow-passengers. One among our company has since become an\ninternational character, and even then had become widely known. This\npersonage was none other than Paul Kruger, President, then and since,\nof the Transvaal Republic. We then thought of Majuba Hill and its\nconsequences, but could not foresee that this son of the African velt\nwould, before ten years had passed, throw so large a part of the world\ninto turmoil and lead in a great war. I was impressed with his strong\nleonine features, and the less heroic fact that he was one of the first\namong the passengers to yield to the power of a rough sea.\n\nFour days out we ran into a great storm that lasted nearly two days. Up\nto that time we were making a quick passage, but the wind and waves\nsoon destroyed all hopes of making a high record. The storm was worst\nat midnight, and as we were being rolled until it was hardly possible\nto remain in our berths, the ammonia pipes broke and flooded the lower\ncabins with gas. Our cabin was located near that part of the ship where\nthe trouble occurred, but no one was seriously injured. A similar thing\nrecently happened on the same ship in a storm on the Atlantic, and\nagain the suffocating gas spread through the ship with one fatality and\na number of prostrations.\n\nLanding at Liverpool, we went to London for ten days, returning to the\nformer place to take the first ship direct for Rangoon. There are two\ngeneral routes from English ports to points in India. By one you travel\nacross the continent, and usually take ship at some Mediterranean port,\nand sail to Bombay. By the other you sail via Gibraltar, and so go by\nsea all the way. Our route was the latter course, and at the time we\nwent out there was only one line of steamers, the Patrick Henderson,\ndirect from English ports to Rangoon. We took passage on a new vessel,\nthe steamship _Pegu_, making its third voyage. \u201cWhat a strange name for\na ship!\u201d we said. We soon learned that the name was taken from an old,\nruined city of Burma, and that all the company\u2019s steamers bear the name\nof some city, ancient or modern, in the land of Burma. So, at the very\ndocks, as we started Eastward, we met a name suggestive of the ancient\nhistory of the land of our future labors. In the appointments of the\nsteamer we were much impressed with the fact that we had no arrangement\nfor heating the vessel, but every plan for thorough ventilation. We\nfound it very cold on board until we passed the Suez Canal. Otherwise\nthe appointments were every way satisfactory, and the fare reasonable.\n\nThis good ship made but one voyage more under its Scotch ownership.\nIt was then sold to the Spaniards and renamed the _Alicante_. This\ncircumstance became of much interest to us at a later date, when\nthis ship was the first to be loaded with defeated Spanish troops at\nSantiago.\n\nThe outward voyage had its many objects of interest to the passengers\ngoing out for the first time. We sailed in plain view of the Portuguese\nand Spanish coasts, but were disappointed in passing Gibraltar at\nnight. The next day, however, we were charmed with a magnificent view\nof the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Southern Spain, as they lifted their\nsnowy heights into cloudless skies, and their vineclad slopes dropped\naway to the level of the sea. For nearly a whole day we sailed close by\nthe picturesque shores of Sardinia. Here we noted a singular confusion\nof the compass by reason of being magnetized by the land. As the good\nship swung off from the southern cape of the island, it made two great\ncurves to correct the erratic state of the compass. We entered the\nharbor of Naples in the full floodlight of a Mediterranean noon. The\nafternoon was spent in the city. Our party was not favorably impressed\nwith the gay people in their holiday attire. It seems they have many\nholidays of the like kind. In the evening we sailed southward; and\nas darkness closed around us, distant Vesuvius sent its fiery glow\nupward on the black mass of overhanging cloud, making a lurid night\nscene. In the morning we woke in plain view of the great volcanic cone\nof Stromboli, rising out of the sea. We were near the island, which\nseems to have no land except the volcano itself; yet houses nestle\nhere and there around its base. What a choice for a home--at the base\nof an actual volcano! The weather was perfect as we sailed through the\nStraits of Messina, but great Mount \u00c6tna, which we hoped to see, was\nhid in clouds.\n\nThe second stop in our journey was at Port Said. The Suez Canal is the\ngateway of the nations. Port Said is its northern entrance. It is under\ninternational control, and hence its government is less responsible\nthan that of almost any other city. It is one of the most wicked cities\nof the world. Representatives of all races are congregated there. It\nis not our purpose to describe this city, but to point out that here\nfor the first time we had a glimpse of the Orient. The fellaheen of\nEgypt loaded our ship with coal, carrying great baskets on their heads.\nWe arrived in the night, and the coaling began almost immediately. My\nwife and I got out of our cabin before day to go on deck and see these\npeople at work by the light of torches. A strange, weird sight it was\nto Western eyes; and their shouting in strange tongues emphasized the\nfact that we had indeed come to a strange land.\n\nThe Suez Canal is the natural dividing-line between the Western and the\nEastern civilizations, between the cold Northlands and the perpetually\ntropical countries of Southern Asia. Looking westward and northward,\nyou find energy put to practical account; looking eastward, you find\nlethargy and life no more aggressive that it must be to keep peoples\nas they have been for a thousand years. Westward you greet progress,\nbut Eastward life has been stagnated for ages, and only stirs as it is\nacted upon from the West. Westward you have an increasing degree of\nprosperity and material comforts and advantages of modern civilization,\nbut Eastward you have such poverty among the millions as can not be\nconceived by people more favored. Westward you have civilizations\nnever content with present attainment; but Eastward you have peoples\nwhose highest ideals are only to be and to do what their fathers were\nand did before them. The West seeks to produce new things, but the\nEast condemns all improvement for no other reason than that it is new.\nAll this, and much more, is suggested by the Suez Canal, from which\nyou plunge downward into Asiatic civilization. Climatically you are\nhenceforth to know only the tropics, a climate, so far as Southern\nAsia is concerned, that you will come to know henceforth as dividing\nthe year into two seasons, \u201cThree months very hot, and nine months\nvery much hotter.\u201d At Port Said you will be informed of the change\nthat is just ahead of you. Whatever you may have bought in New York\nor London, you will need one more article of dress at Port Said--a\nhelmet, to protect your head from the tropical sun. You will never see\na day in Southern Asia in which you can go forth in the noonday sun\nwith an ordinary hat, or without a helmet, except at your peril; and\nmost of the time you will wear that protection for your head from early\nmorning until five in the evening, or later. You will have another\nindication that you are going down into the tropics. If you have made\nyour journey, as we did, in the colder months, the sunniest place on\nthe deck has been the most comfortable until you arrive at Port Said;\nbut there they raise double canvas over the whole ship, and from that\non, as long as you go to and fro in the tropical seas, you will never\ntravel a league by sea that you do not have that same double canvas\nabove you when the sun is in the heavens. No wonder the Suez Canal\nmeans so much besides commerce or travel to all who have passed through\nit to Southern Asia!\n\nThrough the fifteen hundred miles of the Red Sea we took our way. Then\nthe Gulf of Aden was traversed, and next through the Arabian Sea our\ngood ship bore us on our journey. The heat, like very hot summer at\nhome, was upon us, though we were out at sea in December. Coming on\ndeck one morning before other passengers were astir, I was delighted\nto see the green hills of Ceylon a few miles to our left. We had\nrounded the island in the night. The decks had been scrubbed in the\nearly morning, as usual; the ocean was smooth, and the tropical sun\nflooded sea and land, while the sweetest odor of spices filled the air.\nAt once I thought of \u201cCeylon\u2019s spicy breezes,\u201d but I suddenly noted\nthat the wind was _toward the shore_, which lay some miles away, and\nthen I was prepared for the sentiment of the chief steward who had\nsprinkled spices out of the ship stores over the wet deck to please the\npassengers\u2019 sense of smell as they came forth to give their morning\ngreetings to this emerald isle of the Indian Ocean. In rounding Ceylon\nwe reached our lowest latitude, six degrees north. We were still six\ndays\u2019 sail from Burma, and our course took us nearly northeast from\nthis point. The entire voyage from the Suez Canal to Burma was made\nunder cloudless skies and through calm waters. A day from Rangoon we\npassed near the beautiful little Cocoa Islands, while the Andamans\nshowed above the horizon far to the southward. It is remarkable how\nmuch interest there is among passengers when a ship is sighted, or\nland appears on a long voyage. These Cocoa Islands are important as\nbeing guides to vessels homeward or outward bound, and they mark the\nline between the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Martahan. An important\nlighthouse has been maintained there for the past fifty years. The\nAndamans are shrouded in gloomy mystery, due to the fact that they are\nused as a penal colony of criminals transported from India. On the\n31st of December, 1890, after passing several light-ships, we came,\nabout noon, in sight of the low-lying shores of Burma. We had been\nthirty-five days from Liverpool, and were getting weary of the sea, to\nsay nothing of our curiosity to land in a country new to us. But no\nland could be less interesting than this shore-line of Burma, first\nsighted on coming in from the sea. It lies just above the sea-level,\nand besides a fringe of very small shrubbery, and here and there a\ncocoanut palm-tree, it is absolutely expressionless. After lying at\nanchor for three hours at the mouth of the Rangoon River, waiting for\nthe incoming tide, we began the last twenty miles of our journey up the\nbroad river to the city of Rangoon.\n\nThe passengers were made up mostly of people who were returning to\nBurma after a furlough in England. The anticipation of friendly\ngreetings and the appearance of every familiar object along the river\ncreated a quiver of pleasant excitement among them. Our missionary\nparty were almost the only ones who had not special friends in Rangoon\nto meet them.\n\n[Illustration: SWAY DAGON PAGODA]\n\nPresently all eyes were turned up the river as the second officer\ncalled out, \u201cThere is the Great Pagoda.\u201d Yes, this, the greatest shrine\nof the Buddhist world, rising from a little hilltop just behind the\nmain part of the city of Rangoon, lifted its gilded and glistening\nform hundreds of feet skyward. This is the first object of special\nimportance that is looked for by every traveler going up the Rangoon\nRiver. It is seen before any public building comes into view. But\npresently the smoke from the great chimneys of the large rice mills of\nRangoon appeared, and then the city was outlined along a river frontage\nof two or three miles. The city has no special attractions, as viewed\nfrom the harbor; but the whole river presents an animated scene, always\ninteresting even to any one familiar with it, but full of startling\nsurprises to the newcomer to the East. With the single exception of\nPort Said, our missionary party had seen nothing of Oriental life. The\npanoramic view of that river and shore life seen on that last day of\n1890 will remain a lifetime in the minds of our party. Steamers of many\nnations and sailing-vessels under a score of flags, native crafts of\nevery description, steam launches by the dozen, and half a thousand\nsmall native boats of a Chinese pattern, called \u201csampans,\u201d moved\nswiftly about the river, while two or three thousand people crowded\nthe landing and the river front. It is possible that half a hundred\nnationalities were represented in that throng, but to us strangers\nthere were only two distinctions to be made out clearly: a few men and\nwomen with fair skins, and the remainder of the multitude men of darker\nhue. \u201cEuropeans and natives\u201d is the general distinction used in all\nIndia.\n\nSome incidents at such moments in our lives, as our landing in this\nstrange country, make profound impressions far above their actual\nimportance. It was just six o\u2019clock in the evening as we made fast\nto the wharf. Suddenly, as I faced the new world life of labor just\nbefore me, and began to contrast it with that of the past, I remembered\nthat just eleven years before, on that day and at that hour, allowing\nfor difference of latitude, I stepped off the cars in a college\ntown, and parted with my old life as a farmer boy for the new life\nof a college student. A great change that proved to be, and this was\ndestined to prove even more in contrast with life hitherto. The curious\ncircumstance was that the two transitions corresponded by the year and\nhour.\n\nI awoke suddenly to the fact of great loneliness. There were multitudes\nof people, but in the whole company not a familiar face. There were\nsome whose names we had heard, and they were ready to give us a cordial\nwelcome as fellow-workers, but we did not know them from all the others\nin the throng in whose thoughts we had no place. For myself, I have\nnever had a more lonely moment, even when unattended in the Burma\njungles or lost on the mountains at night.\n\nAnother incident, of a painful kind, occurred. As I stood beside the\nship\u2019s doctor, who had been coming and going to India for thirty years,\nhe volunteered information of the people who were boarding the ship to\ngreet expected friends. One young lady passenger was greeted by her\nsister, whose husband stood by her side. She was a fair English lady;\nhe was a tall, well-proportioned man of good features, but he was\nvery dark. The doctor said: \u201cThat young lady is destined to a great\ndisappointment. Her sister is married to a Eurasian, and she, as an\nEnglish girl, will have no social recognition among English people\nhere because she has that Eurasian relationship.\u201d To my inquiries\nof interest, he said many things about these people, in whose veins\nflow the blood of European and Asiatic, concluding with the following\nslander on these people, \u201cThey inherit the vices of both Europeans\nand Asiatics and the virtues of neither.\u201d I refer to this expression\nhere to show how such unjust expressions fall from careless tongues;\nfor I have heard it scores of times, breathing out unkind, even cruel\ninjustice. It is a slander that is not often rebuked with the energy\nits injustice calls for. As I will discuss this people in another\nchapter, I only say here that for ten years I have been connected with\nthem, and while they have their weaknesses, this charge against them is\nentirely groundless.\n\nWe were presently greeted by the small band of Methodist missionaries\nand some of their friends, and taken immediately to our Girls\u2019 School\nin the heart of the town. Here we rested in easy-chairs of an uncouth\npattern, but which we have hundreds of times since had occasion to\nprove capable of affording great comfort. While resting and making\nthe acquaintance of Miss Scott, our hostess, an agent of the Woman\u2019s\nForeign Missionary Society, I was impressed with several features of\nour new surroundings. Though it was New-Year\u2019s Eve, the whole house was\nwide open, and three sides of the sitting-room had open venetian blinds\ninstead of walls, to let in the air.\n\nThen we were quickly conscious of the noise, mostly of human voices,\nspeaking or shouting strange speech in every direction, which the\nwooden open-plank house caught up much as a violin does its sound, and\nmultiplied without transferring them into music. We came, by later\npainful experiences, to know that one of the enemies of nerves and the\nworking force of the missionary in Rangoon is the ceaseless noise from\nhuman throats that seems inseparable from this Oriental city. I have\nbeen in some other noisy cities, but, as Bishop Thoburn once remarked,\nour location in Rangoon was \u201cthe noisiest place in the world.\u201d Before\nthese thoughts had taken full possession of our minds, we were greeted\nby another surprise. As we leaned back in the easy-chairs and our eyes\nsought the high ceiling of the room, there we saw small lizards moving\nabout, sometimes indeed stationary, but more often running or making\nquick leaps as they caught sluggish beetles or unsuspecting flies from\nthe ceiling. We counted nine of them in plain view, seemingly enjoying\nthemselves, unmindful of the presence of the residents of the building\nor the nerves or tastes of the new arrivals.\n\nA watch-night service was held that night intended for sailors and\nsoldiers especially, to which I went, while my wife remained and rested\nat the school with our children. At the service I saw for the first\ntime what is so common in all like gatherings in Eastern cities, the\nstrange mingling of all people who speak the English language. Being\na seaport, the sailors from every European land were present, and, so\nfar as they can be secured, attend this wholesome service, while the\nsoldiers from the garrison come in crowds, and others interested in\nthese meetings are there also. Every shade of Eurasians was present.\nSome of the people whom I saw that night for the first time became\nmy friends and co-laborers in the Church and mission for the entire\ntime of which I write. Late that night, or in the earliest hour of the\nnew year, I fell asleep with my latest conscious thought, \u201cWe are in\nBurma.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nFirst Year in Burma\n\n\nWe were wakened early on January 1, 1891, by the harsh cawing of a\nmyriad of crows, which roost in the shade-trees of the public streets\nand private yards. We came afterwards to know these annoying pests,\nthat swarm over Rangoon all day long, as a tribe of thieves full of\nall cunning and audacity. The first exhibition of their pilfering\ngiven us, was that first morning when the early tea and toast, always\nbrought to you on rising in India, was passed into our room and placed\nin reach of the children. The crows had been perched on the window-sill\nbefore this, restlessly watching us within the room. But on our turning\nfor a moment from the tray on which the toast was placed, the crows\nswooped upon it, and carried it off out of the window. This is but a\nsample of the audacious annoyance suffered from their beaks and claws\ncontinually. They are in country places also, but not so plentifully as\nhere in the cities, where they literally swarm. Were it to our purpose\nwe could write pages of these petty and cunning robberies of which they\nare guilty. A very common sight is, when a coolie is going through the\nstreets with a basket of rice on his head, to see the crows swoop down\nand fill their mouths with the rice, and be off again before the man\nknows their intention, or has time even to turn around. It must have\nbeen some such sight as this in ancient Egypt, familiar to Pharaoh\u2019s\nbaker, that caused him to dream of the birds eating the bread out of\nthe basket that he carried on his head, and that foreshadowed the dire\nresults to himself. Those \u201cbirds\u201d must have been \u201ccrows\u201d of the Rangoon\nspecies.\n\nI could not wait long that first morning in Rangoon, and the first\nof a new year, to get out into the streets astir with human life. I\ntook my first impression of many specimens of humanity that passed in\nview. While the common distinctions in dress, complexion, manners,\nand occupations, which mean so much when you come to know their\nsignificance, were not recognized in this first view of the people,\nI did get a very definite impression of two classes--one well formed\nand well fed, and the other class, those poor weaklings, mostly of\nthe depressed peoples of India, who migrate to Burma. Of the latter,\nI wrote at the time to friends in America, that they were specimens\nof the human race that had about run their course, and must die away\nfrom sheer weakness. Later conclusions do not differ materially from\nthis first decision. But I did learn later that the fine-looking\npeople of strong physique were Burmese, and that the province of\nBurma, generally, has very few peoples of any race that compare in\nfeebleness with some of the immigrants from India that flock into the\ncities, such as Rangoon. It is chiefly what the traveler sees in coast\ntowns like Rangoon, which leads so many transient passers-by to wrong\nconclusions concerning Oriental countries. In Rangoon, many other\npeoples are more in evidence than the Burmese.\n\nAfter that early walk and breakfast, which came about ten o\u2019clock,\nthe usual time, I met with Rev. Mr. Warner, and took in charge the\naffairs of our mission. It is a simple thing for a preacher to go from\none pastoral charge to another in America, in every respect very much\nlike the Church and community he has always served; but it is entirely\ndifferent to go to a distant and unfamiliar country, and take up work\nessentially different from anything you ever had to do with before.\nThen, at home it is the custom for each man to be occupied with some\none specific work and its obligations; but on the mission-field, such\nas Burma has been until now, there is such a variety of interests as\nloads every missionary with the work that ought to be distributed\nbetween two or three. That morning I learned that we had an English\nChurch in Rangoon which supported its own pastor; an English school\nthat numbered nearly two hundred pupils, and an Orphanage for the\npoor Eurasians and Anglo-Indian children. There was also a work among\nthe seamen that visited the port. A woman\u2019s workshop had been founded\nsome time before for helping the poor Eurasian, and other women, to\nearn a living with the needle. There was also preaching going on\namong the Tamils and Telegus, some converts and a fair day-school\nbeing conducted among them. This work was mostly in Rangoon; but some\npreaching was done in the villages round about, and one exhorter was\nholding a little congregation of Tamils at Toungoo, one hundred and\nsixty miles north from Rangoon. A further account of Methodism will\nbe given later, and it is only necessary here to tell how the work\nappeared to me that morning when I began my labors in Burma.\n\n[Illustration: METHODIST CHURCH, RANGOON]\n\nWe had a modest wooden church and also a parsonage, a fair-sized\nbuilding for the school, and another of equal size for the Orphanage.\nBesides these buildings, we had a couple of residence bungalows,\nintended for rental for the support of the Orphanage, but for which\nwe were badly in debt. Considering the small size of the mission,\nour debts were large and troublesome. They were incurred out of the\nemergencies of our work, and were not the result of bad management\nin any way. These debts were to be met at once, and added much to my\nconcern for the mission.\n\nAnother embarrassing feature of the finances of the mission was found\nin this, that we had very small missionary appropriations, and the time\nhad been not long before when our workers in Burma had no money from\nhome. The beginning of the mission had been made entirely without funds\nfrom America.\n\nThis was the more apparent when we look at the distribution of the\nmissionaries. I was to take the pastorate of the English Church, and\nreceive my salary from it; Miss Files, the principal of the Girls\u2019\nHigh School, had never had any salary, except what the school could\npay her; Miss Scott, principal of the Orphanage, had half salary;\nMiss Perkins, the new missionary, alone had a salary from the Woman\u2019s\nForeign Missionary Society. Mr. Warner had less than full salary,\nthough appointed to native work. We had, also, a number of teachers all\npaid locally, and supplies in the mission-work, none of whom received\na salary from America. Here was an outline of a situation in what\nwas called a \u201cself-supporting\u201d mission-field. How to pay debts, keep\nall this work going, and make advance in mission operations with our\nlimited money, was my greatest responsibility. There had never been\na dollar given to the mission from America for property. The problem\nwas easy of statement, but difficult of solution. To plunge right\ninto this work, my first day in the country, and immediately become\nthe responsible head of the district, was beginning mission-work with\nvigor and without delay. I have learned since to believe it a serious\nmisfortune that any missionary should be so overwhelmed with work and\nresponsibility on entering a foreign mission-field. All this, too, when\nwe had yet to adjust ourselves to life in the tropics.\n\nWe were about to prove what it meant to be suddenly dropped down into\nthe heart of an Oriental city, and there adjust ourselves to the most\ntrying conditions we had ever known. The parsonage belonging to the\nEnglish Church, which we occupied, shared the lot with the church\nbuilding. At the time the church and parsonage was to be built, it\nwas the policy of the Government to give a grant of land to any\nreligious society for a church or parsonage. The city is blocked out in\nrectangular shape, but unwisely made very narrow and long. The blocks\nare eight hundred feet long by one hundred and fifteen feet wide. Our\nlot included one end of a block, and was one hundred feet deep. On\nthis lot stood the church and parsonage, facing the main street. When\nthe location was chosen, it was a fairly satisfactory site on which to\nhave a residence, and in a Western country, with Western conditions,\nit might have contained a fairly comfortable residence; but in Rangoon\nthe natives soon began to crowd into poorly constructed buildings all\naround the parsonage, and the filth, that so rapidly accumulates in\nan Oriental city, piled up everywhere. The only sewerage was in open\nditches that ran on three sides of our residence. The stench of these\nsewers was ever present in our nostrils, and especially offensive in\nthe rainless season. But the worst condition was the incessant noise\nmade by the natives. This neighborhood was occupied almost entirely by\nMadassis, who have harsh, strident voices, and speak with a succession\nof guttural sounds. They are always shouting, and quietness is almost\nunknown to them. They quarrel incessantly. At the time we lived in this\nlocality there were six hundred of these noisy people living within a\nhundred yards of the parsonage. They kept no hours for rest. All day\nand all night the noise went on. Sometimes, of course, they slept,\nand the native can sleep in bedlam and not even dream. But there are\nhundreds astir at all hours of the day and night. Then there were\nthousands of passers-by who at all hours added their voices to the din.\nBesides, a heavy traffic was carried on on two sides of us. The streets\nwere metaled, and every wheel and hoof added to the uproar.\n\nThe parsonage was of the uncouth architectural plan characteristic of\nBurma, roomy and arranged well enough for comfort in that country, had\nthe surroundings been endurable. But being placed upon posts, some ten\nfeet from the ground to the first floor, and the floor and walls being\nmade of single thicknesses of teak planks, these multitudinous sounds\nof the neighborhood were gathered up and multiplied as a violin gathers\nthe sounds of the strings, and this discordant din was poured into our\nears. Added to all this noise was the intense heat, which even in the\ncoolest part of the year is very great, and you have conditions of life\nthat tax you to the utmost. My wife and I have pretty steady nerves;\nbut in the thirteen months we tried to live in the parsonage we did not\nhave more than twenty nights of unbroken sleep. Just after we entered\nthis residence, we received our first mail from home, and in the papers\nto hand we read the speech of the senior missionary secretary at the\nMissionary Committee meeting in Boston, held at the time we were\nsailing from New York, in which he dwelt at length, \u201con the luxury\nof missionary life in India.\u201d I promptly sent him an invitation to\nspend the last week preceding the next Missionary Committee meeting in\nour guest-chamber, overlooking and overhearing all that happens among\nthis noisy throng of Tamils. I felt that I had learned more of the\nactual conditions of life in an Oriental city in one week, than this\ngood man had learned in all the years of his missionary official life.\nHe did not accept the invitation.\n\n[Illustration: NATIVES OF BURMA]\n\nWhen one is overworked with unusual duties that tax nerves to the\nutmost, and then lives in perpetual noise and heat day and night, he\nhas the ideal conditions for a short missionary career. We were to\nprove all that this meant within one year from landing in the country.\n\nSurprises and disappointments in the working force of a mission, at\nleast in its earlier and less well organized state, occur with great\nfrequency. Within less than three months, my missionary colleague, Mr.\nWarner, and his wife left us, and took work in another mission. He\nhad been with our mission less than two years, having been sent out\nfrom America. It may be said here that such changes, so early in a\nmissionary\u2019s career, do not generally argue well for the stability of\npurpose or settled convictions of the missionary, and do not usually\nhelp the mission to which a change is made. But in our case it added to\nour difficulties, as the Burmese work, to begin which Mr. Warner was\nappointed, did not get started for some years afterward. There was no\nother man to take up his work, and there could be no one supplied for\nsome time. This situation, coming so soon after I took up the work with\nthe high hopes of a new beginner, added to the complications.\n\nThe heat increased from January onward. The work became very laborious,\nlargely owing to failure to get rest at night. In May, I began to be\ntroubled with a strange numbness in my arms. This gradually spread to\nmost of the muscles of the body, and began to affect my head seriously.\nAt the same time, the heat, especially any direct ray of the sun,\ncaused very distressing nervous symptoms. Having all my life worked\nhard, and having a body that had stood almost all kinds of strain and\nseemed none the worse for it, I at the beginning expected to throw off\nthese symptoms quickly. But when I did not succeed in this, I consulted\nphysicians and found that they were puzzled as much as myself. Had it\nbeen possible to go to some cooler place and take rest at the beginning\nof this disorder, it is likely that I could have met the difficulty\nand overcome it quickly; but there was no chance to leave the work, no\nplace to go to, and no one to relieve me. Steadily for five months the\ntrouble increased, until it was impossible even to read in an attentive\nway, though under the excitement of a Sabbath\u2019s congregation I could\ntalk to the people. In October, only a little over nine months after\nlanding in Burma, Bishop Thoburn peremptorily ordered me to the hills\nof India for a change. He temporarily supplied my place at Rangoon.\n\nI left Rangoon on the evening of the 10th of October on this painful\nflight for health. My wife remained and did hard service, all too hard\nas the case proved, to give the English congregations attention during\nmy absence. This early flight from my work with the uncertainties of\nmy ailment, and the long distance to the Indian Hills, which as we\nsupposed at the time, was the nearest place to get above the heat of\nthe plains, and the condition of the work in my absence, and the added\nburden to my wife, all combined to give the occasion a serious aspect.\n\nI took passage on a little vessel of the British India Steam Navigation\nCompany, which has a large fleet of steamers in these tropical waters.\nI traveled after this many times on steamers of this company, and\nalways found the trip of four days to Calcutta very interesting. The\nsea breeze modifies the heat until you can be in comparative comfort.\nThe officers are usually courteous, but somewhat reserved, for the most\npart. Perhaps this show of dignity is assumed to support the important\noffice they hold. It may be that it is a National characteristic also.\nThe engineers, who number about the same on each ship as the officers,\nand have about as much responsibility, and are equally capable men, are\nusually very free and sociable. The officers are generally Englishmen,\nand the engineers Scotchmen. I have been greatly surprised to find how\napproachable most Scotchmen are. Being of a social disposition myself,\nI usually get in touch with both classes; but I have secured the most\nfriendly response from the Scotch. This has been generally true on land\nalso.\n\nThe Bay of Bengal is a stormy water during the monsoon, from May until\nOctober. At the latter time the wind turns into the northeast, and\none or two cyclones generally form as it turns the rain currents back\nto the southwest, from whence they came. Our captain was nervous as\nwe rounded the land and made for the open sea, lest we be met by a\ncyclone. But instead of a storm, the sea was as smooth as a sea of\nglass all the way to the mouth of the Hoogli River, where we enter\nthe last portion of our voyage. It may not have been noticed that\nmany great seaports are really a great way from the sea, on rivers.\nMore than that, they are usually not on the main stream, but on some\nsubordinate branch of the many mouths of the great rivers. So it is\nwith the Hoogli, which is not the largest of the many mouths of the\nGanges. These river mouths, however, are very large streams, partly\nmade by the inflow and outflow of the tides. The tides alone make\nnavigation to Calcutta by ocean-going vessels possible, as there is\nnot enough water on the shoals except with high tide. Calcutta is up\nthe Hoogli River one hundred and twenty miles. One naturally wonders\nwhy such a city is so far from the sea. I, at least, have had to\ncontent myself without a reason, and like many things Indian, accept\nthat \u201cwhich is,\u201d and that \u201cwhich remains as it is,\u201d because it \u201chas\nbeen.\u201d The approach to Calcutta by river is very dangerous. The number\nof ships that have sunk, often with some of the passengers and crew,\nmake a startling history of tragedy. Some places on the river have\npermanent names for the sunken ships that are buried in its sands. The\ncurrents and the tides conflict often, and drive the vessel onto some\nnewly-made bar, and this overturns the great ship, which immediately\nbegins to sink. Three ships have gone down in this river in ten years,\none of them with much loss of life. After the vessel sinks well into\nthe sand it rights up again, and lifts its masts out of the water, to\nremain for years a solemn monument to the tragedy of the river. Usually\nall life-boats are swung loose and the ports all closed as the ship\nmoves up or down the river at these most dangerous parts. There are\nspecially-qualified pilots, highly paid, who take ships through this\nriver, and they are held to the severest account. An accident, whether\nthe pilot is to blame or not, calls for heavy penalties.\n\nThe river has its charming scenery. The country is flat; but the quaint\nconical Bengali houses that line the shore, with their carefully-laid\nthatch roofs, the cocoanut and date palms growing in great luxuriance\non the alluvial deposit of the river front, and the wide reaches of the\nrich rice-fields, through which the winding river makes its way, all\npresent a picture of rare tropical interest and beauty.\n\nVillages increase as you approach the city, and great oil refineries\nand weaving establishments and manufactories increase as you near the\ncity. Some miles below the city the traveler begins to see a great\nmany ships, both sailing vessels and steamers, and as he enters the\nharbor it is amidst a very forest of towering masts. The shipping that\ngoes in and out of Calcutta, carrying every flag under heaven, is\nenormous.\n\nI was greatly interested in seeing for the first time this most\nimportant city in Southern Asia, if not in all the Orient. My stay was\ntoo brief to get a fair view of the city, but enough to see that it is\nas reported, \u201ca city of palaces.\u201d It is also a \u201ccity of hovels,\u201d in\nwhich multitudes of people do business and live in as great contrast to\nthe palatial surroundings, as can be found anywhere on the face of the\nearth.\n\nAfter a very brief visit with Bishop Thoburn and other Calcutta\nmissionaries, I made my way up country. This took me over the fertile\nplains of Bengal, through the sacred city of Benares, though without\na stop until I reached Lucknow. Here I had a short rest, and then\nproceeded to Bareilly and was the guest for a day of Dr. and Mrs.\nScott, and visited our theological school. In this visit I began an\nacquaintance with our missionaries and our mission interests in these\ngreat centers, which has extended through the years with great profit\nto myself, and an enlargement of view of our Southern Asiatic missions,\nthat I could not have otherwise had. The heat of North India is much\nmodified by October; but as I was making for the mountains, with a\nfeverish desire to get where it was cool, I pushed on rapidly. The\nrailway journey ended at Katgodam, from whence I was to take a pony\nand go by marches to Almora, the capital of Garwal, four ordinary days\u2019\ntravel into the hills. All over the Indian Empire the Government has\nbuilt on every road public rest-houses, where the traveler can get\nshelter, and usually food, at a very reasonable price. I had only the\nafternoon to climb the eight miles to Bhim Tal, my first stage of the\njourney. I traveled with light equipment; but in all parts of India\none must carry his bedding with him, even if he is going to an Annual\nConference. \u201cEntertainment\u201d among friends means many good things, but\nseldom includes bedding, much less so among strangers. I secured a\npony to ride; but when it came to the bedding I had to hire a coolie\nto carry that. I had great difficulty in getting a coolie to go four\ndays\u2019 march back into the mountains. I could not speak a word of the\nlanguage, and this was a hindrance. I found a friendly native who could\ntalk for me. I secured a strong man for _four cents a day_. This was an\nenhanced price exacted because I was a stranger.\n\nI went steadily up the mountains, and with every degree of cooler air\nI felt cheered. At last at beautiful Bhim Tal, a lake at an elevation\nof perhaps five thousand feet, I came to the bungalow and had a good\nsupper. Bedtime came, and still the coolie did not come. I had to\nborrow some blankets of a native and lay down, but not to sleep, as any\none accustomed to the country could have foretold. My coolie did not\narrive until sunrise.\n\nDuring that day I had a view of the majestic mountains, that lives with\nme still. At about ten o\u2019clock in the morning, after an inspiring climb\nup and still up, I came to the mountain pass, and turning a corner,\nthe great snowy range of the Himalaya Mountains rose into a cloudless\nsky. The sunlight was reflected from the snow up into the blue heavens.\nSublime are these mountains! Three peaks near together range between\ntwenty-two thousand and twenty-five thousand feet, while the snowy\nrange is visible for hundreds of miles. It was a great experience.\nHaving never been among the mountains until that journey, and then to\nhave eyes, mountain hungry, feast of these piles of majestic heights,\nthrilled me as no view of nature ever has done. I have seen many\nbeauties of natural scenery, and some of nature\u2019s sublimity, but never\nhave I seen the equal of that view that burst on my enraptured vision\nthat glorious October day.\n\nMaking a double march the third day, I arrived at the Almora Sanitarium\nof the Methodist Mission, and was welcomed by Dr. and Mrs. Badley, who\nwere there, the last of those who had gone up for rest that year. The\ndoctor was fast breathing out his life. He was dying of consumption,\nbut working until the last. He was busy revising his Indian Mission\nDirectory. His voice was gone to a whisper, and yet he worked. I helped\nhim as I could, and looked into his face and tried to realize the\nthoughts of a man who loves work, and in the midst of a most successful\ncareer he is cut down, and knows in every moment of waking thought\nthat he can live but a few days. Ten days I staid there, and then came\ndown the mountain road to Katgodam. On this journey I did my last\nservice for the sick and dying man. At Katgodam I carried him in my\narms and laid him on his bed in the car. The gentle caress from his\nwasted hand, and his whispered blessing for the help I had been to him\non the hard journey, linger as a precious memory. He died three weeks\nlater.\n\nFrom Katgodam I returned to the hills, but this time only to Naini\nTal, one day\u2019s march up the mountains. In this wonderful hill station\nI remained ten days, the guest of Rev. and Mrs. Homer Stuntz. November\nhad come, and by this season it was getting cool in these mountains,\nfrosting some at night. I here received a great encouragement in the\nmatter of health, as I found while living in this cool atmosphere that\nmy head began to clear up, and that I could read with pleasure again.\nHad I been able to remain there, it is possible that I would have made\na rapid recovery; but duty seemed to call me again to Rangoon. Dr.\nGeorge Petecost was then engaged in a series of \u201cmissions\u201d in India,\nand I had secured the agreement of several Rangoon ministers and\nmissionaries to invite him to hold a mission in Rangoon. He was due\nthere in December, and it was nearing the end of November; and as I\nfelt better, and as I was obligated to be in Rangoon, and as the worst\nheat of the latter place had gone, I hoped to continue to improve,\neven if I returned. But I was quickly undeceived. No sooner was I in\nthe plains than all the distressing symptoms again appeared. This\ncondition was relieved a little when I crossed the Bay of Bengal, but\nincreased on landing in Rangoon. Meantime, my wife had broken down\nunder the strain of her work, and was seriously ill. So ended our first\nyear in Burma--much hard work, trying conditions, and breaking health.\nHad this been all the outlook, it would have been disappointing indeed.\nBut the people of Rangoon had been responsive and kind. The work in\nthe English Church had gone forward and some conversions had resulted,\nwhich had been of permanent worth to the Church. The lady missionaries\nhad completed a successful year in the school and Orphanage. The other\nbranches of the mission were faithfully cared for, so far as the\nlimited supervision given would warrant.\n\nAt this time, and indeed for the whole period of which I write, Burma\nhad been a district of the Bengal Conference, and as the sessions\nof Conference were held almost uniformly in Calcutta or some Indian\nstation, we Burma missionaries usually made the trip to India to attend\nthe annual session. This took me, including health trips, thirty times\nover the Bay of Bengal in the ten years of my missionary service. The\nIndian Conferences have for many years been held as near the beginning\nof the new year as may be. I left my wife very sick, and started for\nConference about the middle of January, being far from well myself, but\nstill at work. The Annual Conference was of great interest, and the\nCentral Conference, which followed immediately, even more so. I was a\nmember of the Central Conference also. The Central Conference of India\nand Malaysia had been well organized for several years. This body, to\nall intents and purposes, is a General Conference. It is an increasing\npower for good. It must exist to keep Methodism in this wide area in\nsome organic unity. It has served this purpose admirably. At this\nsession of the Central Conference, held at Calcutta, in January, 1892,\ntwo great questions had a clearly-defined statement that has become of\nwide-reaching importance.\n\nThe question of territorial divisions came up early, and had the right\nof way for full discussion and settlement. Our people at home can not\nunderstand the great areas, as well as the many millions of people\nin Southern Asiatic mission lands. It is all so much bigger than the\nnotion given by a map. At the time of which I write we had three\nConferences and the far-away mission of Malaysia. The most extensive\narea was included in the Bengal Conference. One end of this Conference\nincluded the province of Burma, and the other end reached up to and\nincluded almost all the Northwest Indian part of our mission. Thus it\ncurved all around the southern and western sides of the North India\nConference, as far as Mussoorie. In length it could not be less than\ntwo thousand miles. South India Conference included territory equally\nincongruous with its name. It became apparent that we must divide up\nthis territory, and make more Conferences. We planned five Annual\nConferences, and raised Malaysia to a Mission Conference.\n\nThe other great question that had the earnest consideration of the\nCentral Conference was the indorsement of the Missionary Episcopacy.\nSome of the Annual Conferences had already taken action, and the\nCentral Conference approved the resolutions of the Bengal Conference\nindorsing and approving the Missionary Episcopacy, and asking its\ncontinuance as contrasted with the General Superintendency. Bishop\nThoburn\u2019s administration received, after careful debate, the first of\nthat series of indorsements that has lifted the Missionary Episcopacy\ninto a new and conspicuous place in the organism called Methodism.\n\nThese two transactions made that, my first, Central Conference of India\nand Malaysia, memorable.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nA Year of Changes\n\n\nWhile still at Conference at Calcutta, I received a telegram to hasten\nhome, as my wife was seriously ill. Some of the brethren and I spent a\nseason in sympathetic counsel over this distressing situation of my own\nimpaired health, and the serious condition of my wife. I took a steamer\nthe next day, and started for Rangoon. Of course, we wished for a rapid\npassage; but as often happens when we are eager for the most rapid\nadvance, there proves to be the greatest delay. We were delayed in the\nCalcutta River forty-eight hours, owing to fogs settling down on the\nwater just as the tide was favorable for sailing. We had to tie up for\nsuch time as the fog lasted, as no steamer will move on that dangerous\nriver in a fog. When the fog did lift, the tide had gone down, and we\nhad to remain at anchor till the next tide. In all my journeying up and\ndown the river, I have never had so much delay as on this voyage, when\nI wanted to get forward the most urgently. The journey across the bay\nwas after the usual sort. I felt much distressed about my wife\u2019s state,\nbut had great comfort in the sympathy and counsel of Dr. and Mrs.\nParker, who were fellow-passengers going home on furlough. They were\ngoing via Rangoon, and it proved a kindly providence as they did good\nservice in advising us in our time of need.\n\nAs our ship approached the Rangoon River, we were again just too late\nfor the incoming tide, causing another long delay. So near home, and\nyet we had to lie there for twelve hours! When we finally arrived\nin the Rangoon Harbor, it was after the longest voyage that I have\nknown upon the bay. But I was immensely relieved to find that my wife\nwas slightly better. This was offset somewhat by the fact that I was\ncertainly in a much less satisfactory condition than I had been for\nsome weeks preceding. It was now early in February, and the heat was\nbecoming severe. As the heat was, or appeared to be, my greatest\ndrawback, and would hinder the recovery of my wife, it was decided that\nthe only solution of the difficulty was to make another flight to the\nIndian Hills immediately for a long rest. This time the whole family\nwas to go. Here also Dr. Parker\u2019s presence and counsel were of great\nvalue. He knew India, having had long experience and the best judgment,\nso we felt safe in following his advice. He had selected two of the\nIndian hill sanitariums, and knew that that kind of a retreat was my\nonly hope. But he, and every one else at this time, supposed that my\nwork in Burma was ended. It was decided to ask for some one from home\nto relieve me as soon as possible.\n\nBut there was the immediate difficulty of looking after the work, and\nespecially the English congregation. The Conference that had closed so\nrecently had appointed a young man, J.\u00a0T. Robertson, to be my assistant\nin the Rangoon English Church, so that I could give more time to the\naffairs of the district. He was only a probationer in the Conference,\nhaving been admitted to Conference at its recent session, and he had\nhad no experience as a pastor. More, he had come to a strange city;\nbut, as the case often is in our mission work, we had to take all\nthe risks to the work and to the man, and appoint him to the untried\nresponsibility of the pastorate of the English Church. That he would\nhave run away if he could have gotten out of the province he has often\ndeclared; but this being impossible, he went to work with a will, and\nfor the next five months did very acceptable service as pastor.\n\nSuch adjustment of mission work was made as could be in the five\ndays that intervened after my return from Conference and our second\ndeparture from Burma. I hoped to aid the workers somewhat by\ncorrespondence. The journey across the water began to revive Mrs.\nSmith, and her condition on arrival at Calcutta was greatly improved.\nHere we sought the best medical advice. Dr. Coates, a famous Calcutta\nphysician for many years, gave us his counsel. He predicted that Mrs.\nSmith would continue to improve rapidly, which she did. As for myself,\nhe said that the difficulty was very obscure, and very difficult to\ndeal with. He said that if I went to the hill station of Mussoorie,\nwhere we were intending to go, it would be the very best thing I\ncould do. He further predicted that if I did not get better there in\nfour months, I would never get better in India. He stipulated \u201cfour\nmonths,\u201d as that would take us through the rainless hot season. If this\ntime were spent in Mussoorie, situated as it is at an elevation of\nseven thousand feet in its cool and bracing air, it would be the best\npossible place for recuperation. After resting some with friends by the\nway, we arrived in that hill station on the 13th of March. The snow was\nstill in sight in some lower hills, and the snowy range was seen from\nafar. The view of \u201cthe snows\u201d at Mussoorie is not so commanding as from\nthe regions about Naini Tal, which I had visited four months before.\nThe \u201cstation\u201d itself is built on a ridge and its spurs for a distance\nof six miles or more, and contained at that time some thirty thousand\ninhabitants. The European residents were made up of retired pensioners\nof the Indian Government, a large garrison of English troops, and\nothers connected with the several schools for Europeans, and some who\nengaged in trade. But here, as elsewhere, the great population was\nmade up of the natives. The conditions were as favorable as could be\nfound for rest and recuperation. There was enough sociability to keep\noff loneliness, and plenty of good reading matter in libraries, and\nopportunity to roam about the mountains. I lived much in the open\nair when it did not take me into the direct rays of the sun. Though\nthe atmosphere is almost always cool at this altitude, the sunlight\nsearches one through in the rare atmosphere. It paints the cheeks of\nevery one like a peach, even the dusky faces of the natives are given a\nflush of red. It is doubtful if even America has much better climatic\nconditions for regaining health than many of the Indian hills. Could we\nput the American style of living, and the homelike atmosphere around\nthe sick missionaries in these hills, it is certain that there would be\nneed of less home-going. If missionaries could always retreat to these\nhills when in a decline before they are too much reduced, they would\ngain the necessary strength to resume their duties.\n\nI spent the time from March until the middle of June in this station,\ndirecting the work off in Burma as best I could by letter. This was\ndifficult from the distance of two thousand miles. During these months\nI thought of the anomaly of being presiding elder of a district so far\naway, being also a sick man, and yet so hard pressed were we all, that\nno other missionary could be spared from any field to take up the work\nthat I would have so gladly laid down. It became apparent that I was\nnot to meet with greatly improved health, even here. Bishop Thoburn\nwas away in America, and while he is one of the most hopeful of men,\nhe gave up all expectations that I would be able to go on in mission\nwork in India. He had actually selected my successor in America. But\nwhen the time came to leave home, the brother failed him. As the time\nwore away, and there was no material improvement in my condition, I\nonly hoped to put the mission interests in Burma in as good order as\nI might be able, and then to return to America. This was the situation\non the 14th day of June. Just then the heat on the plains of India is\nmost terrific, and even the hot air and the dust storms reach such\naltitudes as Mussoorie. At this time man and beast pant for \u201crain.\u201d The\nbarren and parched earth seems to cry, \u201crain!\u201d My letters from Rangoon\nindicated serious complications in a business way, and there seemed\nto be a great call to come down and put them to rights. The monsoon\nhad been promised to us; but it had not come, while from the plains\nthe heat rose as from a furnace. Thinking I could only do a little\nmore service for Burma anyway, just to put things to rights for my\nsuccessor, I concluded to make the plunge into that heat, and to go at\nonce, and return as soon as I could adjust business complications. Here\nthe physician who had my case said: \u201cYou dare not go into the plains.\nIn your condition the heat will kill you. You will leave a widowed wife\nand two orphaned children, and you have no right to commit suicide.\u201d\nBut I still thought it best to risk it for the work\u2019s sake.\n\nI can not forget the awful heat that greeted me all the way to lower\nBengal; it was the worst where I first entered the plain. Had I died\nfrom the heat at any stage of that journey, I should not have been\nsurprised. But I lived. I crossed the bay again, and did three weeks\nof the hardest work of my life up to that time in Rangoon. Weary to\nexhaustion, I hastened to Calcutta on my return to the mountains. As\nI lay on the hatch on that rough passage, I felt that my days as a\nmissionary were over, and that I had, without a formal good-bye, left\nBurma forever.\n\nOn landing in Calcutta and getting my \u201cland legs\u201d again, I met one of\nthe surprises of my life. I made the glad discovery that I was greatly\nimproved in health! So certain of this did I become, that I told the\nCalcutta missionaries freely that my days as a missionary were not\nover. They would gladly have believed me, but were skeptical, and\nwarned me that when I should get back to the hills I would wilt again.\nThey said my apparent improvement was only due to the excitement of the\njourney, and would soon wear away. But I went further in my conviction,\nand sent a letter from Calcutta to Bishop Thoburn in America that I\nwas better, and expected to return to Burma, and that the bishop was\nto strike my name off the invalid list. The improvement continued\nafter my return to the hills, and while I expected a long time to\nelapse before I would be entirely myself, I never doubted after that\nthrill of hope in Calcutta that I would become a well man again, and\ncontinue my missionary career. It is exceedingly rare that such a\nradical improvement in health occurs under such an extraordinary, if\nnot indeed perilous, strain as I was under on that trip to Rangoon. My\nexperience in all this has been given in some detail, because it shows\nhow a really desperate case may sometimes turn toward recovery at the\nunexpected time. Had I returned to America, broken as I was, it would\nhave ended my missionary career. The Church, and ourselves, would have\nbeen painfully disappointed, for I had not done what the Church or\nmyself expected, and it would have been taken for granted that I could\nnot possibly stand the tropical climate. As it turned out, I had the\nhonor to continue on the field, bearing heavy burdens for a rather\nlonger period than is usual in the first term of missionary service,\nand to be permitted to write these records of nearly ten consecutive\nyears in mission work. This breakdown taught us a permanent lesson.\nNo missionary henceforth of our mission should be required to live in\nthe noise, dirt, and heat of the town of Rangoon, as we had to live\nthe first year. We determined to get to the suburbs for quieter and\nhealthier surroundings. At Rangoon this can be easily accomplished.\nJust out of the town proper, and yet not far distant from our town\nwork, there is a great cantonment, or military quarter, reaching for a\nmile or more. The location is higher than that of the town. The grounds\naround residences are usually extensive; but it was difficult to rent a\nhouse of any value with the mission money at our command. We secured a\ntottering old house belonging to a miserly old man, who would not keep\nit in any sort of repair. It leaned well over to one side, had uneven\nfloors, rickety stairs, and a roof so full of holes that ventilation\nwas perfect. Yet we got on well here during the dry season; but a later\nexperience remains to be given.\n\nFrom my return to Rangoon both myself and wife plunged into the work\nof the mission with redoubled efforts, that we were not to slacken\nfor years to come. Mr. Robertson was taken sick with the fever after\nhaving stood at his post through the six months of my absence, and\nhis recovery was slow. I had the full pastoral duties, the business\nof the mission, Government correspondence concerning the schools, and\nthe chaplaincy of the Wesleyan troops, as all our Rangoon pastors have\nhad in their turn. Besides this, I did a great deal of district work,\nmostly of a pioneering kind. When it is understood that this is the way\nmany of our missionaries are loaded down, it must surprise others, as\nwell as themselves, that they hold out so long under these multiplied\nlabors, not forgetting that it is always under a tropical sun.\n\nOur lives and labors moved on without special incident for all the dry\nseason from October, 1892, to the end of April, 1893, when we entered\nthe monsoon several days earlier than usual. It is here that the reader\nmay have the closing reference to the old house that made up the\nresidence of the official head of the Burma District at this period.\nAs I have already stated, the house did very well as a camping place\nfor the dry season, during which we seldom have any rain at all. But as\nthe time for the annual rains approached, I began to press our miserly\nlandlord to put the roof in order. This he agreed to do, but the\nagreement he did not keep, and the rains came and caught us unprepared.\nBishop Thoburn had just arrived from Singapore on his biennial visit.\nHe had reached our house on the afternoon of the 24th of April. As the\nafternoon wore away, there began to be signs of rain. The monsoon was\nnot supposed to be due for a week to three weeks yet. However, showers\noften come lightly before this date. The difference between the light\nshowers and the \u201cbursting of a monsoon\u201d usually is, that the former are\nlight and merely premonitory of the coming rains, while they will be\nfollowed by much burning sunshine and increasing heat. The \u201cbursting\nof the monsoon\u201d usually lasts for days, and has often much of storm\nwith it, which also cools the temperature. Sometimes there is a fall of\ntwenty-five degrees, but not often, and this is not long maintained.\nBut on the evening named rain began to fall very gently, and for an\nhour or two we were under the impression that it was only a shower;\nbut the rain continued through the night. There was no wind at all,\nand this led to a most remarkable circumstance, which I do not know of\nhaving paralleled, or that it has ever been made a matter of record,\nthough it made a deep impression at the time. All about Rangoon there\nis a beautiful shade tree called the \u201cpadauk.\u201d It has a short, thick\ntrunk and very long, spreading branches. The most remarkable feature of\nthe tree is that it blooms three times within six weeks, a heavy bloom\neach time, and the third time the bloom bursts simultaneously with the\nmonsoons. Strangely enough, at the end of April, at the time of which\nI write, there was every indication that the _third bloom_ was about\nto break forth, though the rains, as stated, were not expected for some\ntime. So accurately does this tree mark the beginning of the actual\nrains, that a common saying is, \u201cThe rains are at hand, the padauk is\nready to bloom the third time.\u201d This was the situation as we went to\nsleep that night, thankful for the refreshing rain, coming so gently\nalso that we did not see the stir of a leaf. After a very refreshing\nsleep, we were wakened just at daybreak by a great crash, followed\nalmost immediately by another. I hastened to the veranda only to see\nthe great padauk trees in front of the house dripping with water, and\nat the side of two of them, almost a quarter of each tree, broken and\nprostrate on the earth, while the sounds of breaking trees came from\nvarious directions on other streets. As the light increased, we looked\nfor a reason for the breaking of these great branches. We saw the\ntrees one mass of yellow bloom, and the ground covered with the fallen\nflowers. The gentle rain was still falling through the motionless air.\nFor a space of three hours after day came the trees continued to break.\nWhen the breeze began to blow the breaking ceased. Then we were able\nto find a cause why these strong trees gave way. During the night the\nmillions of little flowers on the ends of those long branches opened\nwith the rain, and as their cups filled with water, there being no wind\nto shake the water down, the weight of the water held in these flowers\nacted on the branches as a great lever and broke them down. A really\nwonderful natural phenomenon! It has had no repetition since, probably\ndue to the fact that the rain and the blooming have not been absolutely\nsimultaneous, with an absence of wind. As in this case when the breeze\nstarted up, the water was shaken down and the breaking ceased. When the\nflowers had fallen from the trees there could be no more danger; but\nhe who will look for it, can find the scars on the trees still where\ntheir great branches were broken by the weight of their own water-laden\nflowers.\n\nThe rain had done havoc in the house also. It had searched out every\nhole in that perforated roof, and the water was dripping from the\nceiling into the middle of the room, and streaming down from the walls.\nThe rain continued for a term of eight days, almost uninterruptedly.\nHousekeeping was out of the question. We tried to eat at our table,\nbut were driven away by the water and dust swept down from the roof\nonto the food. There was no help for it. Mrs. Smith\u2019s simple wall\ndecorations of bric-a-brac were all destroyed. We had to live about the\nother mission premises as best we could during the days that followed.\nThere was a dry spot in the middle of one room where the bishop\u2019s bed\nstood, and he returned to sleep there each night to keep out of the\nnoise of the town. So it continued for eight days, to the end of the\nbishop\u2019s visit. I suppose that a bishop of Methodism does not meet\nwith this kind of entertainment often, even in India, much less in\nAmerica. It takes a good man to endure this sort of experience and\nkeep sweet, especially as he knows the home Church has abundant means\nto house its missionaries, if it will. And be it remembered that the\nChurch had never given us a dollar for property in Burma at that time\nin the whole history of the little mission; nor has it yet, except\nthrough the Woman\u2019s Foreign Missionary Society, which has now begun to\nhelp with a really strong hand. But the good bishop and I determined\nto buy residence property, and that on credit, as we had no money. Any\nconditions of purchase were less risky and less expensive than being so\npoorly housed, though this plan could not at once be carried out.\n\nHere another painful circumstance occurred. My family had to live\nin that house for the six months of the rains. Just as they were\nall suffering with fever, owing to the dampness continually in the\nhouse, a missionary paper from home came, in which there was a letter\nby the same Missionary Secretary who had greeted us with the cry of\n\u201cthe luxury of Indian missionaries\u201d the first week of our life in\nRangoon, again declaring that \u201cIndia was the most sumptuously provided\nmission-field on earth!\u201d This letter was intended to take the life out\nof a plea for money to buy residences for our missionaries in India\nand Burma that Bishop Thoburn had written. I recall this circumstance\nhere, solely to show how little the real conditions under which we have\nworked in Burma are understood at home, even by those who at times have\nhad the charge of mission interests.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nThe Physical Features of Burma\n\n\nIt is common to tell of the physical aspects of a country in one\nof the first chapters of any book that may be written giving the\ncharacteristics of any land; but the object of this book is to present,\nfirst, a picture of life in Burma, as the writer and his associates\nexperienced it. There is a logical order in taking up the study of the\ntopography, climate, and products of Burma, as they were observed from\ntime to time in residence and travel through that country. That is\nthe way the observations herein recorded came to the writer after he\nhad begun the work and care of a mission in Rangoon and the adjoining\nregions.\n\nA missionary soon learns to take an interest in all that affects\nthe life of the people among whom he labors. He finds that climate\ndetermines the products of a land to a great extent, and these in turn\ndetermine the occupations of the people. He must adjust himself to\nthese conditions. He also finds that his plans for a people must take\nin their present state and their future prospects. These conditions are\nlargely material. The wealth or poverty of a people determines their\nspirit and possibilities to a great extent.\n\nAmericans especially, very few of whom have ever traveled or lived in\na tropical country, and who have not studied conditions in the Eastern\nhemisphere, except in the best-known portion of the Oriental world,\nhave great need of enlargement of their views on Asiatic questions. In\nnothing is this more evident than on the geography of Southern Asia.\nWhile speaking on missions and Asiatic themes at home recently, I have\noften tried to gauge the ideas of my audience by asking them to guess\nthe length of the Red Sea. I selected this body of water because it is\nmost familiar to all Bible-students. I take the Red Sea because all\nhave heard of it and all have seen it mapped from childhood, instead of\nthe Gulf of Martaban, for instance, which lies off the coast of Burma;\nfor most of my American readers have scarcely heard of the latter body\nof water. The answers to this question from an audience, especially if\nit is secured, as it usually has been, on the moment, have been at once\namusing and instructive. The guesses as to the length of the Red Sea\ngenerally vary from \u201csixty\u201d to \u201cthree hundred\u201d miles, while a few have\ngone somewhat higher. But only one answer secured in months, and that\nfrom a schoolteacher after reflection and mental calculation, has been\n_half_ the length of that historic body of water. Usually an audience\nhas taken a laugh at the guesser and their own mental estimate when\nthey have been informed that the Red Sea is about fifteen hundred miles\nlong. I have sometimes told the man who guessed \u201cone hundred miles\u201d to\nmultiply all his ideas of the Eastern world by fifteen, and he would\ncome nearer to the reality than he had been hitherto.\n\nIt is common to hear at home all the land commonly spoken of as \u201cIndia\u201d\nas a land of a sameness of character, in climate, people, language, and\nproducts. One province of it, like Burma, is a small section of the\ncountry, just like the rest of the land, and chiefly differing from\nthe other portions of \u201cIndia\u201d in geographical lines. But establish\nsomething of the largeness of these complex countries in the mind, and\nalso their diversity of people and physical conditions, and the man so\ninformed is prepared to understand that Burma may be reckoned as a land\nof considerable importance in itself and worthy of special study.\n\nBurma is a land with an area of seventy thousand square miles. It lies\nbetween the Bay of Bengal and Assam on the west, China on the north,\nand French Indo-China and Siam on the east. It also extends through\neighteen degrees of latitude, from ten to twenty-eight north. In shape\nit is a little like the folded right hand, with index finger only\nextended southward. Its greatest width is about four hundred miles,\nwhile the Tennasserim Coast far to the south is but a narrow strip of\nland.\n\nThe topography of the country is interesting. There are three principal\nrivers, the Irrawaddy (the greatest), the Salween, and the Sitiang.\nAll these rise in the north, near or beyond the Burmese border, and\nflow southward. Between these river basins and to the westward of the\nIrrawaddy there run ranges of hills rising to mountains. They range\nfrom small, picturesque hillocks that only serve to divide water-basins\nto mountains above ten thousand feet in height. The valleys are\ncomparatively narrow, but very fertile. The hills are not simply\nsingle crests running parallel with the rivers, but are extensive\nsuccessions of ranges quite regular, with indications here and there\nof volcanic action. The strata are very much broken. For this reason\nthe coal-fields of Burma are not of much value, owing to the broken\ncondition of the strata. When one little portion is worked for a\ndistance, the vein is lost, being removed or buried too deep for work.\n\nThe Irrawaddy River deserves special mention. It rises somewhere in the\nheights of Thibet near the headwaters of the Indus and the Ramaputra.\nIt is noteworthy that the three great rivers of Southern Asia rise\nvery near each other and flow to the ocean so far apart. The Irrawaddy\nbreaks through the hills of northern Burma, and descends into the\nplains, widening and gathering volume till it reaches the sea. It has\nseveral navigable river tributaries, of which the Chindwin is chief.\nToward the lower end of its course it connects with a network of tidal\ncreeks that unite with its several mouths, one of which is the Rangoon\nRiver. This system of internal water-ways makes it possible to traverse\nall portions of Lower Burma with river steamers of various sizes, from\na steam launch to river boats as large and well equipped as those of\nthe Mississippi. The enterprising and prosperous Flotilla Company of\nBurma has a great fleet of these vessels running on the Irrawaddy and\nits tributaries, while the many steamers and launches utilize the\ntidal creeks. This great enterprise has no rival for this river-borne\ntraffic. The amount of business done on the Irrawaddy is enormous. The\nSalween is navigable for only thirty miles by ocean steamers, and the\nSitiang not at all at present, though formerly sailing vessels made\nports about its mouth. Steam launches still ply on both these streams\nand their tributaries. On all these inland waters there are multitudes\nof native boats, of curious but most serviceable pattern. They never\nmodify these Eastern crafts after any Western design. It is doubtful if\nmodern ships have made much improvement in their water-lines over many\nEastern boats, which can be seen in different styles everywhere, from\nthe Red Sea all around the coasts of Southern Asia. They vary greatly\nin different countries, and have become fixed along certain accepted\nlines from which they do not depart, but they all seem to be good. Of\nall Oriental crafts I have seen, none are more picturesque than the\nBurma river boats.\n\n[Illustration: PADDY-BOAT]\n\nThe mountain areas of Burma affect the country in many ways. They\ngreatly affect the rainfall. Lower Burma receives the full force of the\nmonsoon current as it comes in off the Indian Ocean. The consequence\nis a heavy rainfall each year, and a regular and bountiful harvest.\nLower Burma has never had a famine. The amount of rainfall varies\nfrom one hundred to three hundred inches during the rainy season\nof six months. The western side of the outer range of the hills,\nexposed to the same current, has even a heavier fall of rain than\nthe low lands bordering on the sea. The coast range of hills rises\nto a considerable altitude, and as they extend north and south, the\nsouthwest rain currents pour out their water in crossing this range,\nand so have little moisture left to furnish rain in the upper valleys\nof Burma. While the sea coast round about Rangoon, and the Sitiang and\nIrrawaddy Valleys, have abundant rains in the lower portions, as you\ngo northward in each valley the rainfall steadily decreases until in\nportions of Upper Burma there are great areas of land that will seldom\ngive a crop for lack of moisture. The soil in this arid region is as\nfertile as anywhere, and where the great and enlarging canal system\nof the Government is effective, they can produce enormous harvests.\nBut left to the uncertain rainfall, there would be only failure of\ncrops and famine. Happily this condition does not extend over the most\nthickly-populated portion of Burma.\n\nIn another respect the hill portion of Burma is important. Compared\nwith the plains or plateaus of the country, there is a relatively\nsmaller portion of the province of low elevations than that of India\nproper. The greatest level area is bordering on the sea, and is in\nconsequence much modified by the sea breezes, and the heat is never\nvery intense for a tropical country. But a large portion of the\nprovince, which is not cooled by the breeze from the sea, has also a\nmoderate heat for the tropics. I attribute this condition of modified\ntemperature to the fact that we have no _large plains_ or plateaus.\nUnlike India, where the area that becomes superheated is immense, in\nBurma the area of low land is small, and therefore is continually\nmodified by the cooler air from the large adjacent mountain tracts.\nThis, it seems to me, accounts for the fact that all the seacoast of\nBurma is so much cooler than the same kind of elevation of Bengal. They\nboth alike share the sea breeze for a certain distance; but Bengal\nhas hundreds of miles of low plain unbroken by high hills, while\nBurma\u2019s hills approach near the sea. This gives Burma a relatively\nmoderate temperature, though so far down in the tropics. All the\nvalleys of the tropical world are fertile. But a word should be said\nabout the fertility of the mountain tracts of Burma. Nearly all of\nthese hills and mountains that I have seen are covered with a dense\ngrowth of forest. The Indian hills are not so. Many of the latter\nare entirely barren of trees, and where there is any chance at all\nthey are cultivated in terraces. But the virgin forests of Burma\nstretch hundreds of miles over hills and mountains. Here and there are\nvillagers, it is true, mostly Karens, in Lower Burma, who cultivate\nonly small areas; but only one year in a place, making a new clearing\neach year to avoid the work of digging or plowing, and then they let\nthe last year\u2019s clearing grow up to forest again, which it quickly does.\n\nThere is room for a vast population to make an easy living in the hills\nof Burma alone. If those fertile hills were in America, they would be\nall occupied as cattle and horse ranches, if not cultivated. Wherever\nthe forest is thinned or cut away, a great luxuriant growth of grass\nand bamboos springs up, on which cattle feed and flourish. They can get\nplenty of grazing the year round in these hills, and there would always\nbe a ready market for beef and for bullocks for plowing.\n\nAmong the many natural resources of Burma, there are two that require\ncareful attention. Here we find one of the greatest rice-growing\ncountries of the world. Here also are vast forests of the famous\nteak wood, that is used so extensively for ship-building and other\nstructures.\n\nRice-growing is the _one_ line of cultivation that characterizes the\nland of Burma. In India there are greater rice fields, because the rice\nlands are more extensive. But in India they cultivate other crops, and\nthis even on the rice land. In India they frequently, if not generally,\ngrow two or more crops on the same land in one year, or different crops\non adjacent land at the same season. But the Burman grows one crop\nonly, and that is uniformly rice. He is a rice-grower and a rice-eater.\nIn the plains there is no other grain grown that is generally used\nfor human food. There is a little Indian corn cultivated, but not in\nsufficient amount to break the force of this general statement.\n\nThe rice fields of Burma amount to over six million acres. There are\noften as many as one hundred bushels of unhusked rice grown on an\nacre. Of course, the average yield is far below this amount. Yet the\naggregate rice crop is enormous. It feeds all Burma, and there are\nvast quantities shipped to India, China, Europe, and South America.\nNo year since I have been in Burma has there been insufficient rice\nfor her people. If rice of a different variety comes to Burma for the\nimmigrants that are used to the Indian article, there is also much\nBurma rice shipped annually to various ports in India.\n\nA word should be added as to rice cultivation. Perhaps all readers are\naware that rice is grown usually in water, though there is some dry\ncultivation. The land is inclosed in very small fields, averaging less\nthan one acre, but often not more than one-tenth of that area. There\nare embankments round all these fields, and several inches of water are\nkept always on the ground. Sometimes the water is a foot deep. So long\nas the rice can have a very little of the upper blade out of the water\nit will flourish. The ground is stirred with a wooden rake like a plow\nwhen it is covered with water. The mud is made very fine, and as deep\nas this mode of cultivation, will stir it. The rice has been sown in\nnurseries, and when from a foot to fifteen inches high it is pulled up,\nbound into bundles of approximately one hundred plants each, and taken,\nusually in boats, to the prepared field, where it is all transplanted\nby hand. Often the root is divided, so that from one grain there come\nto be grown several bunches of rice. In appearance a rice field looks\nvery much like a field of oats. The reader will hardly be prepared to\nbelieve that it takes nearly twice as long to mature a rice crop under\na tropical sun, as it does to grow a field of oats in the northern\nlatitudes, especially in America. The rice is sown in the nursery in\nMay or June, and the ripened grain is not harvested before the last\nof December or in January. It is all cut with a sickle. I have never\nseen any one harvesting with any other instrument in Southern Asia.\nThe grain is always threshed under the feet of cattle, and winnowed\nby hand. An American sees hundreds of ways wherein this crop could be\ngrown more economically, and some missionary will yet introduce modern\nmethods successfully. The missionary is the only man likely to succeed\nin such a task.\n\nWhen speaking of the great food-producing industries of Burma, that of\nfishing should have special prominence. Burma has a vast area of swamps\nsubmerged every rainy season, and these are classed as \u201cfisheries,\u201d\nand a very large revenue is secured from the sale of the fish. The\nfisherman makes an excellent living, and the people almost universally\nare able to eat fish with their rice. So long has this been the case\nthat no Burman considers that he has been well fed unless he has fish\nof some sort with rice every day. Then he shares the characteristic of\nall Asiatics in desiring much condiment with his rice. He therefore\ntakes the fish, which is of fine flavor and excellent quality when\nfresh, and rots it, and mixes with it peppers and other spices until\nit suits his taste and smell, and then feasts! Other less Burmanized\npeople declare that his \u201cgnape,\u201d as he calls this preparation, is\nsimply very rotten fish.\n\nThe teak-wood forests, before mentioned, are among the most valuable\nin the world. This famous wood will not shrink under the most intense\nsun\u2019s rays, nor will it expand when wet with the rain. It does not\nwarp, and has a smooth grain and works easily. In the tropics, when\nused for building purposes, it is not eaten by white ants, which\ndestroy almost all other building material in hot countries. The\nGovernment has taken hold of this industry, and protects the trees\nfrom fires, regulates the cutting, and does all it can to maintain and\nextend these exceedingly valuable forests. The cutting of the trees,\ntheir transport to the sea, and conversion into lumber is one of the\ngreatest organized industries in the country. The amount of money\nrequired to carry on this business in the process of cutting the timber\nfrom the stump, hundreds of miles inland, gathering it out of the\nforests, carrying it in rafts to the seaports, and putting it through\nthe great sawmills, to the final disposal to the European and other\npurchasers, is enormous. The time element is a large one. It takes\nyears to get these logs through the process. I have often desired to\nknow just how long this timber has been waiting or is in transit from\nthe time it was felled. This at least must be several years, for the\nlogs often show signs of hard usage through a long period. They are\nsometimes cracked and worn as if decades old.\n\n[Illustration: THE ELEPHANT AT WORK]\n\nIt is in this timber industry that the elephants of Burma are very\nuseful. All travelers visiting Burma have at least seen the elephant at\nwork in the mills of Rangoon. They drag the great logs from the river,\nplace them in position to be guided to the saws, drag away the slabs\nand squared lumber, pile all these in orderly heaps ready for further\nhandling, and manipulate the logs and ropes and their own chains in a\nmarvelous way. They go in and out of the mills with every part of the\ngreat machinery running, and never make a false motion to tramp on a\ncarriage, become entangled in the belting, or allow a whirling saw\nto touch their precious skins. Why a great beast with such strength,\njoined to such intelligence and self-possession, will submit to the\nfeeble and often stupid man who sits on his neck, and work for man at\nall, is a marvel. But the transient visitor only sees the elephant\nworking in the mills. This is only a small part of his task. He does\nall the heavy dragging of the logs to get them to the river from the\nforest where they are grown. This is often over the most difficult\nground. He will go into a thicket where no other beast can go, where a\nhorse or an ox could not climb at all, or if he did, would be perfectly\nuseless for work. But the elephant goes into these worst places and\ndrags the logs over fallen trees, bowlders, and through mud, not being\ndismayed by muddy ditches or rocky steeps.\n\nIt is no wonder that the Government protects the herds of wild\nelephants. But sometimes they invade the rice fields in great numbers.\nWhen they do, the destruction is so great that the officials give\nlicense to go and shoot them. Sometimes the hunters succeed in killing\na few. If they are males, the tusks are very valuable. The feet are\nalso skinned, including the leg, sole of the feet, and the nails,\nand when so prepared are often used as waste-paper baskets, and are\nregarded as great curiosities.\n\nBurma has great ruby mines; but as these stones are not of so much\nvalue as formerly, the mining is not to be considered as constituting a\ngreat industry. But the oil fields of Burma are very valuable, and it\nis supposed that the industry is as yet only in its early beginning.\nIt is said that the company that owns the chief refinery, and many of\nthe oil fields, will not sell any part of the stock they hold, and that\nthey are getting rich rapidly.\n\nIt will be seen from the foregoing facts that Burma is a great land in\nitself. It belongs to the Indian Empire, and it is the richest province\nin the whole country. It pays all its own expenses, which are heavy,\nand gives largely to the deficit of other provinces. As a field for\nmission work, there is none more promising so far as natural conditions\nare concerned.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nThe City of Rangoon\n\n\nRangoon may not perhaps be rated as a great, but it is an important,\ncity. The population of Rangoon numbers above two hundred thousand,\nwithout the usual thickly-inhabited suburbs. It is a seaport third in\nimportance in Southern Asia. Calcutta and Bombay are the only cities\nthat surpass it. The capital of the province of Burma, it is the center\nof official life. Being situated so near the sea, only twenty miles\ninland, and having the best of harbors and every connection with the\ninterior, both by rail and river, its importance as a trading center is\nvery great. Compared to other Indian cities, it is more important than\nmany with a greater population, while it is doubtful if any city in all\nthe seacoasts of Southern Asia is of equal importance in proportion to\nits population. Then, it has the advantage of being a newly-planned\ncity. As such it has straight streets, crossing at right angles for\nthe most part, like Western cities of the modern plan. However, this\nadmirable arrangement has been of far less advantage than it would have\nbeen, because the blocks are too narrow to be utilized to the best\nadvantage. This blunder has, unhappily, been perpetuated in the great\nnew addition that has been made on the eastward of the city. It would\nseem that experience in this matter would have taught the municipality\nbetter things; but like other things Oriental, I suppose, they found\nit very difficult to get adapted to anything new. As the beginning was\nmade that way, the end must be the same. But in the one fact that the\nstreets are straight and at right angles, there is an advantage that\nis not found in any other Oriental city. The streets are kept well\npaved, and the general improvements are progressive, except in two\nvery important particulars. They still use poor kerosene in inferior\nlamps for street lighting. Ten years ago I went to the municipal\nengineer, and asked him if it was not feasible to light the city with\nelectricity, instead of the obsolete methods then, as now, in vogue.\nHe said: \u201cYes, it might be; but we are not so enterprising as you in\nAmerica. We will wait ten years, and see if a new thing works well\nbefore we adopt it.\u201d The ten years are passed, and still the smoky old\nlamps send out their indifferent light and obnoxious odors--too many of\nwhich befoul any Oriental city--because the municipal authorities have\nnot yet found out that electric lighting is a success. This is being\nwritten in America, where most little towns of one or two thousand\npopulation are being well lighted with electricity, while over the sea\nthe great city of Rangoon, with two hundred thousand inhabitants and\nlarge revenues, can not yet venture on this modern system of lighting\nits streets.\n\nThere is, also, a lamentable backwardness in the matter of street\nrailways. There is a poorly-built and poorly-kept street railway run by\nsteam. But there is little comfort in the car service, and the motive\npower is antiquated steam engines. The street railway, such as it\nis, is not extended to such limits as it should be. Were the streets\nlighted with electric-lights and a system of electric cars adequate to\nthe city and suburbs running, these public improvements would be in\nkeeping with what Rangoon is in the matter of trade.\n\nThere is only one other city in Burma of nearly the same number of\ninhabitants as Rangoon, and that is Mandalay, the capital of Upper\nBurma. This city was the capital of independent Burma in modern\ntimes. When the British annexed Upper Burma in 1886, they projected\nthe railway to the city of Mandalay, and as it already had steamer\nconnection with Lower Burma, its many advantages as a distributing\ncenter maintained its continued growth. While it has a population\nnearly equal to Rangoon, it has nothing else to be compared with the\nlatter city.\n\nThere is a very great contrast between the two cities in the matter\nof racial population. While Mandalay has some immigrants from other\nlands, like other cities and towns of Burma, the city as a whole is\ndistinctly Burman. Rangoon, on the other hand, is so foreign in its\nmakeup that it can not be called a Burmese city. Relatively, very few\nBurmans live in the main part of the city. Here you find many peoples\nof India. There are wide areas of the city given over to the Tamils,\nTelegus, Bengalis, Gujaratties, and Chinese; while yet other Indian\npeople are found in this Indian community to the exclusion of the\nBurmese. The Burmese live chiefly at both ends of the city of Rangoon,\nwhere there is much trading in rice and other dealings of a Burmese\ncharacter. The Burmese have given way before the immigrants of India,\nlargely because they are an independent and proud race, and will not\ndo the work commonly done by the coolies and servants about the city.\nThey look upon the immigrant from India as an inferior, and they will\nnot allow themselves to be his competitor for the more menial services\nand work of the city. The Burmese, therefore, collect chiefly where\nthey have occupation congenial to their tastes. It is significant that\nthe Burman will work at almost anything, where the Madrassis and other\nIndian people are not working alongside of him. But where there may be\nconstant contrasts or comparisons in inferior positions, he will not\ncondescend to go. So he gives way to the native as indicated, not from\nnecessity, but from choice.\n\nRangoon is a great trade center. The two greatest industries are that\nof the lumber trade and the traffic in rice. The lumber manufacture and\nsale has had previous mention. I will only add that immense sawmills\nline the river front at frequent intervals, and the logs lie in the\nriver in great rafts, or in heaps on land. There are perhaps scores of\nelephants at work in connection with these mills.\n\nThe rice mills are conducted on a very large scale. The plan is common\nto make advances to brokers, who go out and loan money on the growing\ncrop and agree to take the rice, which in the husk is called \u201cpaddy,\u201d\nat harvest time, at a given rate per hundred baskets. The basket holds\nabout a bushel. Usually the price ranges about one hundred rupees\nfor a hundred baskets, though often the rice is a fourth above or a\nfourth below this amount. The rupee is equal to thirty cents. As the\nprice of rice is impossible of calculation so many months in advance\nof harvest, the millers who advance the money to the brokers, who\nare usually Burmans, and the brokers who advance the money to the\ncultivators agreeing to take \u201cpaddy\u201d at a given rate at harvest, and\nthe cultivators, all base their calculations upon guesses usually\nwrong, the whole system has much of the elements of gambling, like the\ndealing in futures on an American Board of Trade. The rice is husked\nand cleaned in these great mills, and sold to buyers from abroad,\nor in the local markets for food. Often the cleaned rice is sent to\nEurope, and converted into some kind of intoxicants, and comes back\nto curse the land out of which it grew. It is noteworthy that most of\nthese greater business enterprises that call for great organization\nare managed by Europeans. But there are many merchants in wholesale or\nretail business that are of all races. The Chinamen are busy traders,\nand will doubtless have a more controlling voice in the affairs of\nbusiness as time goes forward.\n\nOf all the trade in the country, there are two features that are a\nsource of unmixed evil--the trade in opium, and the trade in liquor. It\nis true that the Government tries to keep the opium trade under very\nsevere regulations; but it is always a failure to try to regulate that\nwhich itself feeds upon vice. The amount of liquor brought into Burma\nis something enormous. It is true that there are more people that do\nnot drink than formerly, and those that still drink are less given\nto excessive drunkenness than in earlier years; yet there are more\npeople in the land, and there are more of the natives, particularly\nBurmese, that are using intoxicants, in imitation of Europeans, and\ntherefore the quantity of liquor brought to the country to supply this\ndemand is greater than ever before. The ship that our party went on to\nRangoon carried three missionaries and three hundred tons of liquor. I\nhave no doubt this would not be above the average cargo for steamers\nplying between European ports and Burma. It is astonishing how this\nliquor has entered into ordinary trade. Most of the great importing\nhouses deal in liquors. Most of the retail houses likewise. So it\nbecomes difficult for a young man who is hostile to the whole liquor\nbusiness to get work in any of the retail \u201cshops,\u201d as they are called,\nwithout staining his hands in this unholy traffic. One of the great\nreforms on the temperance questions in the East will be to develop a\nsentiment antagonistic to the traffic, until liquor-selling can not be\ncountenanced as a respectable business.\n\n[Illustration: THE NEW PUBLIC OFFICES, RANGOON]\n\nRangoon has several good public buildings, the greatest of these\nbeing the Government House, the residence of his honor the\nlieutenant-governor, and the great secretariat building, which is\nsituated on grounds reserved for its use, in the center of the city.\nThe latter building has been completed only about five years, and when\nnewly occupied was considerably shaken by the heavy earthquake, which\nshook Rangoon and vicinity. But the damage done has been repaired, and\nthe great building adorns the city and serves the purpose for which it\nwas erected. There is also the elegant Jubilee Hall erected in honor of\nQueen Victoria\u2019s illustrious reign.\n\nRangoon is divided into two distinct parts. The one is on the flat land\nadjoining the river, and extending a third of a mile back, and some\nfour miles in length. This includes most of the business portion and\nall the crowded districts of the city. Here many thousands of people\nliterally swarm by day, and sleep twenty in a single room at night.\nThis portion of the city is called \u201cThe Town.\u201d It is almost always\nvery dirty, except when washed by heavy rains. Here are still seen old\nbuildings of every sort. However, these are disappearing more rapidly\nthan one would anticipate, from the fact that they were originally\nall constructed of wood, and during the dry weather there have been\nfrequent friendly fires of late years, and the town is by this means\nrelieved of a good many unsightly structures. Henceforth there are to\nbe no wooden buildings erected in the center of the city.\n\nDuring the rains we are treated to a curious effect of the excessive\nmoisture of the climate. Many of the old houses have been roofed by\nclay tiling. When this tiling is not frequently turned, the spores of\ncertain weeds, which have gathered on the tiles as the rains increase\nand the clouds settle down in unbroken shadows over the land, spring up\nand grow to the height of two feet or more, growing as thick as grass\nin a meadow. This makes a house a very curious-looking object. A human\nhabitation or church grown all over with weeds! When the clouds break\naway and the sun comes out, these weeds dry to a crisp.\n\nAny student of a people, and most of all a missionary, is early\nattracted by the religious life of men. Of the many races that mix,\nbut do not blend, in the population of Rangoon, each brings his own\nreligion from the land of his birth. Each holds to his own faith with\nthe greatest persistency, as a rule. Men will have dealings together\non all subjects, except in religion. Here they differ widely, and\nthey generally do not compromise their religious convictions or\nobservance. Sometimes their dispositions to each other are that of\ncovert hostility. But generally they get on in outward peace, but do\nnot think of becoming proselytes to any other religion. The religious\nrites at the shrines are kept up faithfully. The great religious feasts\nare observed with much pomp. The social customs that are connected with\neach religion are seldom broken. So living side by side are adherents\nof every religion under the sun.\n\nIn the center of Dalhousie Street in Rangoon is a large pagoda, a\nshrine of the Buddhists, with its gilded conical shape rising far above\nall other buildings in the vicinity, while from its umbrella-like top\nthere goes out on the tropical air the sweet sound of bells that hang\non the rim of the umbrella. Just across the street from this pagoda is\na mosque where the Mohammedan business men and passers-by go five times\na day to pray. Two blocks east from these is a Hindu temple, and three\nor four blocks west is a Chinese temple, where their religious rites\nare observed, consisting mostly of offerings to devils. These temples\nare only samples. I understand there are a score of mosques in Rangoon.\nThe number of Hindu temples I do not know, while there are pagodas in\nevery quarter. There are various Chinese temples also. Throughout the\ncity are now found several Christian Churches. Here the gospel light is\nheld up to dispel the soul-darkening counsels of the Christless faiths.\nAt a glance at these sacred places and religious rites it will be seen\nthat the conflict between religious ideas and practices is general, and\nprobably will become world-wide. The Europeans that go to that country\nmust represent the Christian religion, or deteriorate religiously. The\nnon-Christians must stand by their own, or in time they too will become\nmodified. This is wholly independent of the aggressive battle that\nthe missionary would wage against all these non-Christian religious\nsystems. It is a significant fact that the missionaries who are in the\nmidst of the religious life, so opposed to all they hold dear in faith\nand practice, have unbounded confidence in the final triumph of the\ngospel in leavening the present-day pagan faiths, as it did those of\nthe New Testament times. I have yet to meet a hopeless missionary. This\nnote of the hopeful conquering missionary force is an inbreathing of\nthe Spirit of our Lord, who from his throne sends forth his heralds.\n\nOne fact will show how intense is the religious faith among some of the\nAsiatics. The Mohammedans and the Hindus are often very hostile to each\nother. If it were not for the hand of the English Government in India,\nthis hostility would be almost continually breaking out into open\nviolence in some parts of the country. As it is, it is not seldom that\nreligious riots occur. In 1894, during a Mohammedan feast, in which\nthey are accustomed to sacrifice a cow, the Mohammedans were determined\nto slaughter the animal not far from a business house of a rich Hindu,\non whose premises there was also a private temple. As the Hindus\nworship the cow, and as the killing of such an animal, especially in\nreligious services, is an abomination to them, they were naturally\nmuch incensed, and the Mohammedans probably meant that they should be.\nIn this case the Mohammedans seemed to be the aggressors throughout.\nThe fanatical antagonism was growing dangerous. The authorities were\nwatching the movements of these two parties, the Mohammedans giving\nmost concern. Several days went by, and the feeling was at fever heat.\nSunday came, and as I rode to church with my family in the early\nmorning, I saw on every street companies of Mohammedans carrying clubs\nfaced with irons, hurrying toward the center of the town where their\ngreatest mosque is, and near which they meant to sacrifice the cow.\nJust as I concluded the morning service, I heard the sound of distant\nfiring. In a few moments a Mohammedan ran by the church, with his face\npartly shot away. The excitement in the city grew as the facts became\nknown.\n\n[Illustration: THE MOSQUE, RANGOON]\n\nThe deputy commissioner and other officers were present at the center\nof the disturbance with a small company of Seik soldiers. The mob grew\nto many thousands, and the officers commanded them to disperse. This\norder they refused in derisive language. Then blank cartridges were\nfired to frighten the multitude, and still they refused to disperse.\nAs there was nothing left to do, the troops were ordered to fire into\nthe crowd that thronged about the mosque. Some thirty or more were\nshot, several being killed outright. This dispersed the crowds, but\nthere was rioting for days whenever Mohammedans would find a Hindu away\nfrom his associates, or in unfrequented or unprotected localities. Had\nit not been for these rigorous measures of the authorities, the whole\ncommunity would have been given over to violence. As it was, the whole\nMohammedan community was doubly policed for six months, and the extra\nexpense was put on to the tax of that particular community. This was\neffective in keeping order, and when the time had run its course, the\nMohammedans petitioned the local Government that if these extra police\nwere taken away, they would behave themselves, which they have done\never since.\n\nWhile \u201cthe Town\u201d is such a center of life and strife, the suburbs are a\nplace of quiet, rest, cleanliness, and beauty unsurpassed. The military\ncantonment is here, with perhaps nearly a mile square, laid out in\nlarge blocks and roomy compounds, or yards. A rule has long been in\nforce in the cantonment, that there could only be one house erected on\na lot. Most of these lots contain from one to four acres. This gives\nthe room necessary to beautify the grounds, and to secure pure air.\nThe cantonment is now being curtailed, and doubtless this admirable\nregulation may be modified. But as this land rises a little higher than\nthe town, and, being a little apart from it, it will continue to be of\ngreat value for homes. The entire suburbs have a fine growth of trees,\nmany of them natural forest trees and others ornamental, and planted\nfor shade.\n\n[Illustration: ENTRANCE OF SWAY DAGON PAGODA]\n\nThe chief object of all the region, the great Pagoda, is situated about\nthe middle of this cantonment portion of the suburbs. But the suburbs\nrun far beyond the cantonment. It reaches on three sides of this\nreserve, while the whole region to the northward is being occupied and\nbuilt upon. There is a fine grove of forest and fruit trees extending\nmost of the way to Insein, nine miles from Rangoon, and nearly all\nthe intermediate area is built up with fine residences of Europeans,\nor rich natives. The homes out in the groves, and with large fruit\ngardens, furnish the ideal place for rest and refreshment after the\nwork of the hot day in \u201cthe Town.\u201d It is a fact that Europeans who have\nlived for a while in this portion of the city of Rangoon seem loath to\nleave it for any place. If they go back to Europe, they mostly return\nagain to Rangoon. Government House, a large palatial building, the\nresidence of the lieutenant-governor, is the central attraction of all\nthe fine residences of this region.\n\nThere are three areas of great beauty reserved by the authorities--the\nZoological Gardens, the Cantonment Gardens, and the Royal Lakes. All\nthese reserves are beautiful with every variety of tree, bush, and\nflower that grows in the tropics, and the grounds are laid out with\nartistic care, and lakelets beautify the whole. But the \u201cRoyal Lakes\u201d\nare a series of natural and artificial water basins, all connected and\nadorned with beautiful little islands and curved shore lines. A portion\nof the inclosure is kept as a public park, and a winding drive is\nmaintained along the water\u2019s edge, which gives an ever-changing picture\nof tropical beauty. The effect of the palms, the mangoes, and other\nshade and ornamental trees, toning down the fierce glare of the sun,\nand these shades reflected from the clear water on a tropical evening,\nis a blending of color that I have never seen anywhere equaled. The\nworld has many places of beauty, but of those views I have seen nothing\nequals the \u201cRoyal Lakes\u201d of Rangoon for combinations of charming\nscenery in a limited area. Evening and morning this drive is crowded\nwith vehicles of every type. Rangoonites of every race are out taking\nin the air and scenery. Here in the evening may be seen hundreds of\npeople dressed in the coolest apparel, visiting and resting, while\ntwo or three evenings a week the band entertains with music. It is no\nwonder that Rangoon makes an attractive city for business and pleasure\nfor any whose lot is cast in this tropical land. The heat is never as\nintense as in Indian cities, and always in the hottest weather it is\nmodified with a sea-breeze. In the long and heavy rains also the people\nseem to get no harm from a frequent exposure.\n\n[Illustration: ROYAL LAKES AT EVENTIDE, RANGOON]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nEuropeans, Anglo-Indians, Eurasians\n\n\nAll people of foreign blood from western lands, and the descendants\nof these, however remote or however little the trace of Western blood\nthey have, are in India technically called \u201cEuropeans.\u201d Before the law\nthey have the rights of a trial by jury, and in the school laws they\nare classed as \u201cEuropeans.\u201d But it is far more accurate to divide this\nclass into three divisions--the pure \u201cEuropeans,\u201d the \u201cAnglo-Indians,\u201d\nand the \u201cEurasians.\u201d By this division the Europeans are people born and\nreared in Europe, or America, who are now found in Southern Asia. The\nAnglo-Indians are those people of mixed European blood who have been\nborn and reared in India. The Eurasian, as the name implies, is a man\nwho has both European and Asiatic blood. For the purposes of comparison\nthese may be named in two classes, the Western born and bred man, the\nEuropean, as distinguished from Eastern born relatives, Anglo-Indians\nand Eurasians. I want it made very clear that in discussing the\ncharacteristics and relations of these several peoples, that I am\nnot drawing invidious comparisons. I have no sympathy whatever with\nasperities heaped upon men because of their race; neither do I\npatronize any man because of his race. I long ago concluded that\ncharacter is not a matter of race; that lovable or royal manhood is\nnot a question of ancestry or position, but that nearly all essential\ndifferences in men are due to environment and to personal conduct, for\nwhich each man is responsible. But comparisons not invidious must be\nmade to bring out the various features of social and business life that\nenter into the complex racial intermingling of Southern Asia. At best\nthis complexity of life can be but partially understood by readers in\nAmerica, who have never seen anything quite like it.\n\nThe characteristics of Europeans and Americans are well known in the\nWestern world. My subject calls for only those characteristics which\nthey hold in common, and these features of character as modified by\nresidence in the tropics and under the social conditions of Asia.\nThese characteristics are contrasted in a decided way, as compared\nwith any and all Asiatic trained men of any race or racial mixture.\nThese elements of character are most noticeable in the energy that\ntakes them to the tropics, their capacity to organize business or\ngovernment, and maintain a modern and systematic organization of\nthe highest efficiency, and that peculiar capacity for just and\nprogressive governmental domination. This energy and this capacity\nfor organization, which of course involves the power to work out\npainstaking details, are characteristic of the Northern civilization,\nand never found in the same degree, as far as I know, among any\npeoples that have been bred in the tropics. It is a matter of great\nimportance in working out the simplest framework of a theory of racial\ninfluence in the world to recognize the fact that all real pioneering,\nall colossal accomplishments in all lands in modern times, have been\nmade by men bred in the colder countries of the temperate zone. These\nare the men who forge the world forward in their own native climes, and\nin the frigid zone, and also in the scorching tropics. The tropical\nworld presents no people who hold their own with these exotics, even\nunder their native skies. It is this quality of the European that makes\nhim the dominating man in India. He creates and fosters government and\nbusiness enterprises on a large scale. As a man, the European is a\nmightier personal force than Asia can produce.\n\nThat this energy is largely a result of climate and social environment\nis very plain when we compare the Western man with the characteristics\nof the descendants of Europeans who have had only an Indian upbringing.\nAnd in all comparisons I will class the Anglo-Indian and the Eurasian\ntogether, for so they belong. They both follow the same habits of life,\nso far as style of living is concerned, similar to that of the European\nresident in India. In these respects they have much in common with all\nEuropeans. They are all classed together as compared with the native.\nBut here the similarity between the imported man and his Indian-bred\nrelative comes to an abrupt end. The driving and conquering energy of\nthe Western man is wanting in his relative of even one generation\nof Asiatic breeding. It is clear that this difference, which all\nobserving men recognize, is purely due to environment of climate and\nsocial customs. They are as bright in mind as the Western men. They\nare excellent students to a certain point. They are specially facile\nletter-writers. But the line of occupations which their Asiatic life\nand conditions fit them for, is very limited indeed. The limitations\nof their lives are many. The most depressing of all their conditions\ngrows out of the fact that they from infancy are dependent for the\ngreater part of all life\u2019s duties on the native servant. The baby is\nnursed by a native _ayah_; his clothes are kept in order for him by a\nservant. He is fed, clothed, and cared for by half a dozen menials. His\nboots are blacked for him; his books carried to school; his umbrella\nheld over his head; his pony is groomed, saddled, and led while he\nrides, by a servant whom he is accustomed to command in everything. He\nis helped and coddled out of all independence and self-helpfulness. In\nall this he is not to be blamed, but pitied. In this he does as all\nhis relatives and neighbors do. His household and business methods,\nall that he sees, is being done this way. Not one man of European\ndescent in India lives entirely by his own efforts, as is common in\nWestern countries. His dependence on menials is therefore a necessity\nof respectable life, as he sees it. He is not to be blamed, for he sees\nnothing better around him. But this admission does not require that\nwe approve the social conditions that unman him and rob him of much\nenergy and resourcefulness in the matter of self-help. It is a fact\nthat he develops a softness of character in matters of personal habit,\nand lacks in the energy which is required only by long and sustained\nself-dependent work. For this reason all the hardier traits of manhood\nare feebly developed, or lacking. You do not find these men entering\ncallings where hard service is required. They do not make either\nsoldiers or sailors. Some of them become engineers, but they are only\nfound in places where the work is largely done by native helpers, and\neven here few of them compete with the Scotch or German engineer.\n\nBut the difference wrought by social conditions is seen more in matters\nof disposition than elsewhere. No race of the human family can boast\nof good dispositions. However, we do find that Indian-born men are\nunduly sensitive. They are usually easily \u201coffended,\u201d even to pouting.\nThey are sensitive of their \u201cstatus,\u201d whatever their positions may\nbe. A multiplied illustration of this supersensitiveness is found in\nthe recklessness with which men will resign from any and every post\nwhen, for some reason or without reason, their feelings are hurt.\nThey will often go from comfort to beggary just because they may be\ndispleased with their treatment. And that which seems almost a paradox,\ncompared with the preceding fact, is that they will stand almost any\namount of outright snubbing from people whom they respect for some\npretentious assumption of superiority. I have been puzzled many times\nto understand how it was when I went to a disgruntled man with soft\nspeech to pacify him, if for reason or without it he was disaffected,\nto find that he would take my approach to him as a sign of weakness,\nand be confirmed in his unlovely manners. But I have seen the same man\nbenefited by the sharpest rebuke which gave him no quarter at all.\n\nBut while the Anglo-Indians have all the disposition in common with\nthe Eurasian, they are distinguished in common speech in a way that\noften causes much pain to high-minded Eurasians. They are called\n\u201cHalf-castes\u201d and \u201cNiggers.\u201d They are scorned for being born of\nquestionable parentage. This is by no means true of the most of these\nunfortunate people, as an increasing proportion of them are born in\nwedlock, and often are the children of cultured and orderly homes,\nthe equal of any on earth. But when true as a fact, it does not\naffect their character or real moral worth. But there is a sting, the\nmore painful for its injustice, on the innocent child born of mixed\nparentage, when born out of wedlock, which in the cruelty of social\nspeech attaches more shame to the innocent child than guilt to the\nheartless father. I have been led to believe that this injustice\naccounts for much of the supersensitiveness in the whole Eurasian\ncommunity. Then they labor under the disadvantage often of having a\nvery dark skin. It is a curious law of nature that the Eurasian child\noften has a darker skin than even his Asiatic parent. In a country\nwhere shades of color, light or dark, are measured by a supersensitive\nscale, and social recognition is to some extent based upon this absurd\nmeasurement, it will be seen that the Eurasian, especially if very\ndark, is overmuch pained that he has not a white skin, and he feels\nthe fling of the term \u201cNigger,\u201d often on the lips of those whose only\nwhiteness is in their skins.\n\nOne more characteristic of the Asiatic-bred men of European descent\nmay be given. They do not take kindly to burdensome responsibilities,\neven after Indian pattern, especially for their own kindred and race.\nIn a country where there are more charitable institutions in proportion\nto the population than in any other in the world, and perhaps greater\nneed of such institutions, yet it remains a painful fact that, with\na few exceptions--so exceptional as to make the real nobility of the\nmind of the few more striking--there is a very small part of the\nmoney necessary for their support given by the Anglo-Indians, or\nEurasians. The greatest amount of money to keep these institutions\ngoing is given by men foreign to the country. But another like fact\nof note is this, that there is not one such institution, so far as I\ncan learn, the burdensome responsibility of which is actually carried\nby an Indian-bred man, or company of men. There are many working\nfaithfully in subordinate capacities. But when it comes to organizing\nand maintaining such an institution, and bearing its burdens through\ncrises, the Indian-bred men have not been found under the load. The\nsuggestiveness of these facts is a commentary on either the lack of\nreal charity, or lack of energy to bear responsible burdens. Having\nbeen in this sort of work in various capacities for all the time I have\nbeen in the mission field, I feel it is due to the institutions of\nthis kind, and the workers who bear the burdens of the same, to point\nout this failure of this branch of the Indian peoples to measure up\nto a manifest duty, and to say further, that I believe this shrinking\nfrom personal responsibility to be a direct result of training from\nchildhood, which teaches them to avoid unpleasant tasks and drop them\nupon others. They would order a servant to do the work if it could be\ndone that way; but if not, then the Western man or woman must do it, or\nit goes undone.\n\nOne more characteristic must be mentioned. It can not be denied that\nthe lack of manly independence in a majority of Indian-bred men leads\nthem to be forever asking somebody to do something for them. Many of\nthem will appeal to ministers especially, and all charitably-disposed\npeople, to get them into positions for which they are often wholly\nunqualified. They will ask you to aid them with money; borrow or beg\nwithout any sensibility of its unmanliness whatever. It takes a very\nlarge part of every minister\u2019s time to respond to these incessant calls\nfor \u201chelp.\u201d\n\nIt would take reams of paper to write all the supplications, petitions,\nand applications for positions, when the applicants for aid should\npresent themselves in person and ask for posts, conscious of their\nown ability to sustain themselves. A Scotchman in Rangoon, whom I\nknew, and a man with most kindly heart, in a position where he was\noften besieged for employment, grew so tired of this unmanly method\nof applying for employment, that he became annoyed every time he saw\na man with one of those letters of recommendation coming to him. He\nwarned me repeatedly that, as a minister, I ought not to write these\nletters of recommendation to business men, and in later years I ceased\nto do so. One constant form of this appeal for some special favor has\nbeen repeatedly to approach the Indian Government to retain certain\npositions for the special benefit of this community. The Anglo-Indian\nand Eurasian associations have repeatedly memorialized the viceroy\nto order these favors. Lord Curzon, the present viceroy, gave their\nmemorials special attention, and as a result he delivered a reply of\nthe most searching kind, and urged the people of this community to\ncarve out something worthy themselves, instead of being continually\nmemorializing for special favors, and refused to aid in the special\nclass regulations. The delegation retired, \u201cthanking his excellency for\nhis sarcastic remarks.\u201d Yet I fear it will take more sarcasm before the\nright mettle is put into this people, as a class.\n\nNow while I have written these facts as I see them, I wish to avoid\nabsolutely a mistake commonly made. While we point out these weaknesses\nin a community, we must not stop there, as the manner of some is. There\nare those who would not allow themselves to speak of the real worthy\nones among these peoples as heartily as they would of the deficiencies\nof others. I want to be fair and to lean in statement where my\nsympathies have always been, with the better and noble characteristics\nof these unfortunate people, as I have known and valued them, and\nrecognize the possibility of toning up the moral fiber, if they are\ntaken in hand as boys and girls before being confirmed in the weakening\ncustoms of the country.\n\nThe youth, both boys and girls, of these families have many among them\nwho will take a fine education. They do excellent work in school. Some\ntake a university course. A greater number ought to do so. They make\nvery good clerks where nothing but writing is to be done. This has been\nthe chief employment of the men hitherto. They are very fair teachers.\nA few have been employed in our mission, who for painstaking care and\nfaithfulness can not be excelled. Some of them have been inspired\nto be and do all that is worthy and noble. There are missionaries\nfrom among these peoples whose ministry has been blessed of God,\nand greatly edified the Church. It is a fact, however, that for the\nlast dozen years there has been almost a dearth of such applicants\nfor admission to our ranks. It is also true that the falling off in\nthese applications corresponds nearly with the time that those who\nwere in our Indian Conferences were advanced to the full status of\nAmerican-trained missionaries. Let this be pondered and remedied. Some\nof the young people have done nobly. A few have honored themselves\nand the Church by an education in America, and returned to devoted\nservice for their own people. But happily we have an illustrious soul\nof this community, recently translated, whose going has made earth\npoorer, except in hallowed memories of her sainted life, and heaven\nricher. When we meet one such soul as the sainted Ph\u0153be Rowe, we lift\nup our hearts with thanks to Him who has made the Christ-life so real\nin flesh that we could look upon. Ph\u0153be Rowe was a Eurasian. She had\nall the Indian conditions, but from very early life she was a devoted\nChristian. In riper years she developed Christian graces to the highest\npossibility. After a notable service in many capacities, she closed\nher career by a long term of service as an evangelist to the poor\nnative Church of India. Her life and labors have been recorded, and are\nthe property of the Church. I only write to say of her that she was\nthe most perfect fruit of our Indian Mission. Bishop Thoburn, in his\naddress before the Central Conference in 1900, spoke of her departure,\nand said, \u201cPh\u0153be Rowe, the most peerless saint I have ever known.\u201d One\nsuch saint is a prophecy of all possible good among these people.\n\nThe climate and social conditions do affect Europeans also. This is\nmanifest in very many ways. From having servants to do the necessary\nwork for them, they easily drift into the habit of leaning back in an\neasy-chair, and calling \u201cboy\u201d for everything they want, from a drink of\nwater to a toothpick. I saw an extreme case. A young Scotchman, just\nout of the office in the evening, went to the Royal Lakes and called\nfor his boat. His servant dutifully brought it to the low platform;\nwaiting the pleasure of his master. The young man turned him slowly\nround and sat down in the boat, but left his legs stretched on the\nplatform. The servant went out and lifted one leg in, and the other leg\nlikewise. When the whole man was in he pushed the boat off the shore,\nand the master took lazily to the oars!\n\nThe habit of being waited upon in everything tends to develop the\ndomineering habit among almost all people. Little children often fairly\ndrive the servants about as they assert their pettishness. Grown-up\npeople often act as spoiled children in the same way. A young man who\ncomes from Europe from conditions where he had to do every kind of work\nhimself, soon learns to order his servants around with more pomp than\nany born lord. The tendency of this kind trends also to extravagance in\nliving. It is so common for men getting a good salary to live beyond\ntheir means. It is a common thing when an officer on good salary dies,\nfor his friends to take up a public subscription for his widow, who\nwill often be found to be without support of any kind.\n\nIn these respects, the climate and the environment are seductive. The\nsterling simplicity that makes Westerners great is easily frittered\naway in the East. Men go in for display. They keep what they call\n\u201cestablishments.\u201d They are much given to drink. Too often they debauch.\nIt is certain that a young man runs far more risk in this tropical\nclimate of making moral shipwreck than in Europe or America. Take away\nhis moral props with which he is surrounded at home, and he quickly\nforms alliances to his own heart. Concubinage is very common. At\nfirst the youth is ashamed of this relation, but later he is likely\nto flaunt this sin in the face of all men. He sometimes acts as if he\nwere perfectly reckless of moral consequences. The good name he brought\nto the country and his own loved ones at home are forgotten. It is a\ncommon saying, \u201cHe left his morals at the Suez Canal.\u201d\n\nBut while this is true as a tendency, it is the joy of the writer to\nemphasize the fact that not a few men, young men, come from Europe to\nthe tropics and keep themselves pure and noble in the midst of all\nthat is seductive in climate or society. I have known a goodly number\nof such, and count them among the most genuinely noble men that I have\nmet. There are men of many years in the country whose moral worth\nhas grown with a steady growth as the years have gone forward, and\nhave made themselves a name that is a rebuke to every dishonorable or\nunclean life, and a tower of strength for themselves, and a mighty\nbulwark against popular evils that degrade their fellow-countrymen.\nThese men, with their time, business sense, and their money, are always\nactively on the side of right and righteousness. No people have had\nmore such friendships in India than the Methodist missionaries. I have\nbeen specially honored with a wide acquaintance with such noble men.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nCharacteristics of the Races of Burma\n\n\nThe cosmopolitan character of the population of Rangoon has been given,\nand it is only necessary to add that all towns near the sea and on the\nrailways have the same intermingling of foreign and native peoples. But\nthere is a much greater preponderance of those races which are at home\nin Burma. As you go inland, of all the immigrants the most ubiquitous\nis the Chinese.\n\nThe Burmese are easily the chief people of Burma over any other race,\nnative or immigrant, in any part of Burma. Indeed, they rank high\namong all peoples of Asia. I am aware that when I exalt the Burman, I\ninvite the criticism of the champion of other races. It is a common\nobservation that missionaries especially come to champion the worth\nand virtues of the peoples among whom they labor, and perhaps estimate\nthem above their value, as compared with other races. This trait is\nworth something to the world in that it brings to the front one class\nof optimists of the value of men as they are, or of what they shall be.\nWhen any man loses faith in any race, he can no longer be of signal\nservice to that race.\n\nIn rating the Burmese people highly, I am not aware of being\nprejudiced in their favor by reason of exclusive association. Our\nmission work has brought us into contact with nearly all the races in\nBurma. As a result of our experience, the Burman must be given a place\nsecond to none. Personally, I believe he has more to be said in his\nfavor than any other Asiatic race of which I have any knowledge.\n\nI know it will be said that he is lazy and unreliable. The former\naccusation is well-nigh universal. To undertake even to qualify this\ncharge of indolence is a large task; but still I am ready to say\nsomething for the Burman\u2019s industry. It is admitted that several of the\nraces of India are ploddingly industrious. The Burman\u2019s industry is\nless continuous, but I think not less genuine. He has more festivals\nand idle days, but he certainly works rapidly, and for long hours, when\nhe works.\n\nThis is especially true of the cultivator. He is in the field a little\nafter daylight, and with only a short time of rest at midday he works\non till dark. In harvesting time he does the same. One evening when\ndarkness had fallen I was going up a tidal creek in a boat making my\nway to the village of Naunguyi, when my attention was attracted by\nsounds on the bank, and looking up I could see outlined against the\nsky two Burmans loading a cart with rice sheaves. It would have been\ntoo dark to see them if we had all been on a level. These men had been\nworking since daylight. During the threshing time the work is often\nkept going on the threshing floors till midnight. Now I am persuaded\nthat men naturally indolent do not work in this way. In clerkships, and\nas subordinate officials, they do not compare unfavorably with other\nAsiatic races; while the Burmese women are notably industrious, whether\nin the village, or in the bazar in the cities.\n\nEight or ten years ago we heard much of the hard-working, money-loving\nMadrassi supplanting the Burmese land-owner and cultivator of Lower\nBurma. But with a somewhat close observation I am convinced he is not\nsucceeding in this much faster than the Burman finds it to his own\nadvantage to allow the black man from across the Bay of Bengal to\nsucceed him. The same thing is true if it comes to larger trading.\nIn such lines as the Burman cares to enter, he gives a good account\nof himself. If there is one man who will beat him in trade, that man\nis the Chinaman. There are certain kinds of employment the Burman\ndislikes, and he avoids them; but in his chosen lines he is not\ndiscounted by comparison.\n\nThe Burmese are racially very proud. There is a good deal of dignity\nin this pride, as well as of less worthy elements. Among themselves\nthe Burmese have no caste system, except that of the pagoda slave,\nhence all kinds of work are honorable. But when the Indian, with his\ncaste system, comes in and classifies life into the infinitesimal\ndistinctions of respectability, and the reverse in all kinds of work\nwhereby all domestic service is put under this caste system, the proud\nBurman refuses to be a servant! Who can blame him? He is a standing\nprotest against a system that is wholly wrong. In Upper Burma, where he\nis not so much in competition with the caste man, he takes fairly well\nto all manner of work.\n\nEven when he competes with the coolie labor of other races he maintains\nhimself. This was strikingly illustrated in cutting the new road up\nThandaung three years ago. The officers tried Karen labor till it\nfailed, though the work was in their own hills. Then the Madrassis were\nbrought in, and they gave way after repeated trials. Then, as a last\nresort, the Burmese coolies came and completed what the other races had\nfailed to accomplish.\n\nIt is certainly true that the Burmese race is much respected by most\nEuropeans. I do not think any other Asiatic race is equally respected\nby foreigners resident in Burma.\n\nThe manners of the Burmese are pleasant. The Burman is a friendly man,\nand approachable. There is none of the exclusive, non-communicative\ncharacteristics about him. He will share his house and his food with\nyou always. His religion, while having something of bigotry in it, as\nalmost all religions have, is not offensive to men of other faiths.\nThe toleration by Buddhism of other faiths, perhaps more apparent than\nreal, yet is sufficient to attract much favorable comment in Burma.\n\nOne fact much to the Burman\u2019s credit, in comparison with the other\nraces of Asia, is his ability to read; that is, a very large majority\nof the men read, at least to some extent, and a good many women.\nLately in America we have heard the school system of the Chinese much\nlauded. And since Minister Wu, at Washington, has so distinguished\nhimself and his race by his striking addresses, many people have jumped\nat the conclusion that an ignorant Chinaman is the exception. But I am\ntold by those who ought to know, that in China only about one man in a\nhundred, and one woman in ten thousand, can read. The Japanese alone of\nAsiatic races are more literary than the Burmese.\n\nThe Burman is peculiarly proud of his knowledge of the Buddhist\ndoctrines. He calls them the \u201claw.\u201d In consequence of the system\nof doctrine he upholds, he is unwilling to be taught religion by\na man whom he has hitherto believed incompetent to teach. It is\nthis, I believe, which makes him unwilling, as a rule, to be taught\nChristianity by a Karen. All his racial and religious pride comes up as\nhe faces the suggestion of the Karen teaching him, whom he would always\nregard in a peculiar way as a \u201cson of the jungle.\u201d He knows the Karen\nformerly had no social standing and no written language, while his\nvague demonology was wholly wanting as a system of religious teaching.\nNo, he is not ready to receive Christianity from the Karen.\n\nFor hundreds of years the Burmese have been the dominant people in the\nland of Burma, and the Shans, Chins, and Karens were conquered and\ndominated by them. They have had some able rulers, and at times have\nhad a strong enough government to wage war with distant people; even\nwith China herself they were often at war.\n\n[Illustration: A BURMESE FAMILY]\n\nThe Burmese have a distinctly developed racial type. They, like all\npeoples in Burma, China, and Siam, are of the Mongolian type of men.\nTheir complexion is much lighter than most Indian peoples, and they\nnaturally look upon the black man from across the Bay of Bengal as the\n\u201cKalla,\u201d dark of color and an inferior. While they have distinct racial\nfeatures, they evidently are a blending of the Chinese and the Malay.\nThis has been noticed particularly by comparison between the Burmese\nand the Filipinos. Visitors to Manila, who are acquainted with the\nBurmese, say the resemblance to the Filipino is very striking. We know\nthe Filipino has a Chinese and Malay infusion of blood.\n\nThe more than six millions of Burmese people are the chief people of\nthis land, whether studied from a governmental, racial, or missionary\npoint of view. To the American interested in missions it is of special\nimportance to remember these people. In America there is just now much\ninterest in carrying the gospel to eight or ten millions of people\nin the Philippine Islands. This interest is largely because they are\nunder the American flag. Let not the millions of Burmese Buddhists be\nforgotten while hastening to new fields.\n\nThe Shans take second rank among the races of Burma, though much more\nattention has been given to the Karens by the missionaries. The Shans\nin appearance are the most like the Chinese of any of the inhabitants\nof Burma. They are racially closely related to them. Their language,\nappearance, and dress bear out the resemblance.\n\nThe Shans are found widely distributed in Burma; but they live chiefly\nin the hills in the northeast of the province. Like the Chins, Kachins,\nand several tribes of the Karens, they seem to prefer residence in the\nhills. In this they all contrast with the Burmese, who always prefer\na home on the plains, and they are never for a long time or in large\nnumbers resident in the hills in any part of Burma. The plains are\nthe richest part of the country, and as the conquering Burmese came\ndown from the north they naturally occupied the fertile portions of\nthe country, and have remained there, the weaker peoples taking to the\nhills and finding their permanent home in places relatively difficult\nof access and easy of defense.\n\nThe Shans are a strong race, and a little taller than either the\nBurmese or the Karens. They are raisers of cattle and ponies, and\nare great traders, bringing the products of the distant hills to the\nrailway centers.\n\nIn religion the Shans are Buddhists. They have a written language,\nand the Bible has been translated into their tongue by the Baptist\nmissionaries.\n\nIn matters of moral purity the Shans must be rated very low. By those\nbest informed, it is said that their girls are nearly all corrupted\nbefore they are grown. A missionary resident among them for years,\ntold me that the principal chief had in his reception room a picture\nportraying all the vices known to the human race, placed on the wall\nin plain view of every one who came to see him. Here men, women, and\nchildren, when calling on the chief, looked upon this horrible picture,\nand discussed it as a commonplace affair.\n\nThe missionary, who was the chief physician, told him he would not come\nto his house again if he did not take that picture down from his walls.\nThe chief expressed surprise, and readily agreed to take the picture\naway, and explained that he did not know it was wrong to have it there.\n\u201cDid not know it was wrong!\u201d Can any one regard this absence of the\nmoral sense among an entire people, and not believe in the need of\nChristian missions? The hundreds of thousands of Shans must be included\nin the plans for the evangelization of Burma.\n\nThe Karens are a distinct people, but of a number of different tribes\nor divisions. During Burmese domination they were very much oppressed.\nFor the most part they lived in villages apart from the Burmese. Many\nof them lived far back in the hills, probably for better security, and\ncertainly for freedom from interference on the part of the Burmese.\nOwing to this exclusive village life for long ages they have become\nvery clannish. The Karen, while admitting that the Burman is the\nsuperior man, still preserves his racial pride. His village is very\ndear to him. Unlike the Burman, who moves annually or monthly, if it\nsuits him, and seems about as much at home in one place as another,\nthe Karen does not easily become dislodged from the village where he\nwas born. Lately there has been some migration from the hills to the\nricher plains, but still the community life seems to be pretty well\npreserved.\n\nThis village life has its advantages and disadvantages. The cultivation\nof rice is made in a community. While each man has the field which he\nclears, it is so ordered that no one in the village is left entirely\ndestitute. The land has been held as a village, and is therefore not\neasily alienated. The area belonging to a given village is great,\nespecially in the hills, but the amount cultivated is very little.\n\nThe style of cultivation, if indeed it should be dignified by that\nname, is unique, and will never be adopted by a people of advanced\nmethods of agriculture. The hills are heavily wooded, and when a\nsuitable area is selected for the next year\u2019s cultivation, the whole\nvillage proceeds to cut it down with the most complete destruction.\nAfter the forest is felled during the dry season it becomes very dry,\nand just before the rain fire is touched to it, and the flames with a\nterrific rush cover the entire clearing in a few moments, and consume\nnearly every stick of wood. The few logs which remain are collected\nand burned, and with the beginning of the rain the rice is planted on\nthe steep hillsides, the earth being enriched by a heavy coat of fresh\nashes. The ground is not plowed, but the grain is dropped into small\ncuttings made by the thrust of a small spade-like iron on the end of a\nlong handle. The sprouts that spring from the roots in the ground are\ncut away as the rice grows. The harvesting is with the sickle, and\nwhen threshed is carried to the village, frequently a long distance\naway, on the backs of men and heads of women, the latter carrying the\nlarger loads, as is usual in the East. This is most laborious and\ntedious. As there are only mountain paths, and as the Karen, even when\nwell to do, does not care for road improvements, he climbs up and down\nas his fathers have done before him for hundreds of years.\n\nAs the soil is never cultivated, they depend on the fresh ashes to\nforce their crop. This requires a fresh clearing every year, while a\nnew jungle growth springs up on the last year\u2019s field. They do not\nwish to cut the jungle oftener than once in ten years. It will be seen\nhow wasteful is this strange method of cultivation. How wonderful the\nforest growth that will maintain itself over all these hills under such\ndestructive treatment!\n\nThe Christian Karens are a living miracle of the century of Christian\nmissions. They need much teaching yet; but when one sees these people\nso uplifted from the state they were once in, be what he may, he must\nbelieve in Christian missions. The Baptists, under God, deserve nearly\nall the credit for the conversion of this people.\n\nThe Karen, as a man, is a study. He is affectionate, especially toward\nhis missionary. Yet he will often be guilty of conduct quite at\nvariance with that sentiment. Yet of this conduct he will repent again\nsoon; but it is a repentance usually without tears or apparent sense of\nregret. He will take offense easily, and a little later reappear with\na smile on his face, as forgetful of his recent temper as a child. But\nhe is not a child. He enjoys a joke, even at his own expense. He is\nalso a very obstinate man, even when his obstinacy is against all his\nown interests.\n\nBut if you would see the Karen at his best, go to his village and see\nhis children in school, a school which the missionary founded, but\nwhich the village now supports. Remember the missionary gave this\npeople their written language. Attend the evening prayers when the\nvillage pastor leads their devotions in their simple chapel. Hear them\nsing! There is probably no more inspiring singing in the world. You\nwill want to hear them again. Go to church on Sunday, and hear a sermon\nby a trained preacher, whose great-grandfather worshiped \u201cgnats\u201d or\ndemons, who he supposed inhabited the surrounding hills and had his\nlife in their malevolent control. How great is the distance from the\ndemon-worshiper to the intelligent and devout Christian! The missionary\nwas the human agent, and God the author of this transformation through\nthe preaching of the gospel. Yet some people would say they do not\nbelieve in missions!\n\nThe Chins and Kachins inhabit the hills of North and Northeast Burma.\nThey are kindred peoples. There are possibly two hundred thousand of\nthem. Like other isolated people, they have everything to learn from\ncivilization and the Christian religion. The Government officer and the\nmissionary have undertaken the problem of these people.\n\nThe Chins have given much trouble to the Government within the last\nfew years. They lived formerly by raiding the peaceful people of the\nplains. When the English Government annexed Upper Burma, it punished\nthem for this. Soon the whole hill country rose against the Government.\nA band of soldiers was dispatched into the hills to subdue them. After\nsome sharp fighting they sued for peace, promising good behavior. Sir\nAlexander MacKenzie, the efficient chief commissioner, was then the\nhead of the province of Burma. He instructed Mr. Cary, the political\nofficer of the Chin Hills, to bring several Chin chiefs to Rangoon to\nsee the city and the emblems of authority and power of the Government.\nHis idea was that if these savage mountainmen saw the power of the\nGovernment they would be induced to keep the peace. He treated them\nkindly, but told them they must respect their neighbor\u2019s property\nand obey the Government. But this wholesome exhortation of the chief\nprovincial officer of the great Indian Empire was wholly lost on these\ndaring, but ignorant, men of the hills. Their whole life ran riot\nover all obligations recognized by civilized men. Almost immediately\nthey began again to rob and kill. This time they were more severely\npunished. Their villages were burned and they were defeated in any\nattempt to give battle, though the punitive force, almost all of native\nsoldiery, under the energetic and capable political officer, Mr. Cary,\nwas very small. They were fined fifteen hundred guns. Of course, they\nprotested they did not have three hundred. But under pressure they\nsurrendered the required number.\n\nHere was a revelation! Every antiquated gun of Europe, of fifty or one\nhundred years ago, had been brought by unscrupulous traders and sold to\nthese wild tribes! The sales had not been made recently, it is true;\nbut nevertheless the only firearms these wild men had they had secured\nprobably of British traders of earlier years, who disposed of them\nalong the coast and they had been carried inland, where years afterward\nthey were used in armed robberies of peaceful subjects of this empire\nand against British authority. Some so-called civilized men sacrifice\nmuch of civilization for a little gain in trade.\n\nAfter the country was substantially disarmed, a large number of these\nchiefs were brought to Rangoon by Mr. Cary to attend a more imposing\ndisplay of the greatness of the Government. On this occasion the\nviceroy summoned them and their official head, Mr. Cary.\n\nThe viceroy is appointed for five years, and usually once in his term\nhe visits Burma. Lord Landsdowne was the viceroy, and held a _durbar_,\nan official reception, attended by all officials and the general\npublic. At this durbar he recognized the eminent service of Mr. Cary,\nand decorated him before the great assembly. His excellency also called\nforward these Chin chiefs, and gave each a beautifully ornamented large\nknife, as a token of his good will. He probably could not have given\nany present so highly valued. Most half-civilized men live with their\nknives in their hands.\n\nAt this time a touching incident occurred which ought to be perpetually\nremembered to the credit of a brave and unselfish officer. Mr. Cary was\nthe honored guest at the quarters of the chief secretary of government.\nThe Chin chiefs were camped at the Royal Lakes, living in their usual\nuncivilized manner. They probably were eating more than they ever had\neaten before in their lives. At any rate, cholera broke out among them.\nOn receiving report of their distress, Mr. Cary left his comfortable\nquarters and the society of his superior officers, and went into the\ncamp of these chiefs and nursed the sick and dying. Some of them died\nin his arms. The cholera is the worst epidemic of the East, and most to\nbe dreaded. Yet this brave man risked his life to nurse these wild men,\nwho had been, until very recently, trying their hardest to kill him. It\nis such heroism as this on the part of British officers that makes the\nBritish rule great throughout the world. They stop at no sacrifice of\ntheir own lives to put turbulent countries in order, and then are no\nless heroic in times of peace in serving their high trust of poor and\ndependent people.\n\nI rode all day with Mr. Cary and his fifty wild chiefs on their\nhomeward journey. I was greatly interested in the story of the\npacification of all that Chin and Lushai country, of which he had the\nmanagement. I was surprised that Mr. Cary attributed his practical\nability in all his arduous labors to the drill he received on an\nAmerican farm and as a cowboy in the Northwest for four years before\ngoing to Burma. Though an Englishman, he had spent these years in\nAmerica.\n\nThe Karens, Chins, and Kachins are being rapidly converted to the\nBuddhist religion. Christianity and Buddhism are in an unconscious race\nto win them to one or the other of these faiths. The first to reach\nthem will win them to its system of religious teaching.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nBuddhism\n\n\nBurma is a land of Buddhism and pagodas. The pagodas are the shrines\nof the Buddhists. They are found all over Burma in almost countless\nnumbers, in every condition from the newly-completed to the decayed\nstructure. On the higher hills and mountains they are usually built\non the most conspicuous spurs, where they can be seen to best effect\nfrom all the region round about. In the low hills the same principle is\nfollowed, the most conspicuous place being selected. On the flat plains\namong the rice fields they make artificial mounds, to serve as the site\nof their temples to be placed thereon.\n\nIn the Buddhistic system of religion the building of pagodas is\naccounted one of the chief works of merit. Their preservation is\nof little consequence, so that the country is dotted all over with\nmultitudes of abandoned pagodas, overgrown with jungle and in all\nstages of decay. You can scarcely dig into any old mound anywhere in\nBurma without finding the brick outlines of some ancient pagoda.\n\nPagodas are all always built after one pattern. This pattern allows of\na structure not higher than a man originally, being enlarged to the\nsize of the Great Pagoda at Rangoon without change of architectural\nplan. In this respect the pagoda is probably the only style of building\never planned by man that has been commonly adopted, in which this\nstructural possibility is found. The pattern is that of an irregular\ncone built of brick and earth, most commonly of brick, with the outer\nsurface plastered. At the base is a little cavity, in which some\nprecious relic is placed, and over this rises the solid structure\nof the pagoda. The base is usually circular, and the superstructure\nretains the same shape, excepting that it curves irregularly to\nsmaller circles. The top is always finished with an umbrella-like\nstructure often with rings suspended from its outer rim. The rims of\nthe umbrellas are usually made of some kind of metal, from which are\nsuspended a great number of bells. The bells are usually rung by a\nbrass imitation of the leaf of the peepul-tree, the sacred tree of\nBuddhism. This leaf is loosely, suspended alongside of the bell, and as\nthe gentle breeze peculiar to the tropics, especially Burma, puts them\nin motion, they gently tap the exterior of the bells. You are likely to\nbe charmed with the delicate melodies of the bells until you come to\nfeel what a hollow, comfortless system Buddhism is. A pagoda is a tomb,\nor at least a receptacle of relics of some revered personage. The ashes\nof a priest\u2019s body that has been cremated are often put into a pagoda.\nReputed remains of Gautama are, of course, the most valued. However\nextravagant the fiction that surrounds these cherished objects, the\ncredulous Burman professes to believe in them absolutely. This is\nconspicuously true of the great temple at Candy in Ceylon, and the\ngreat Sway Dagon Pagoda of Rangoon. The managers of the former profess\nto have in their possession one of Gautama\u2019s eyeteeth, which is shown\nto pious, or noted visitors. A story is invented accounting for the\ndisappearance of three of these useful dentine members, but the fourth\nand only possible one, not accounted for otherwise, has found its way\nby the traditional route to the temple of Candy. It is there the object\nof great reverence, and pilgrimages, often from long distances, are\nmade to this shrine in order to look upon and worship this tooth. That\nwhich is shown as the eyetooth of Gautama is a piece of bone about two\ninches long, and half an inch thick. It is as large as the tooth of a\nhorse, and could not by any possibility ever have been one of any man\u2019s\nset of teeth. It is in appearance much like a piece of smoked ivory.\nYet this piece of bone is reverenced to a degree that perhaps no other\nrelic of Buddhist tradition possesses. After making great offerings to\ntheir own pagodas, the Burmese, two years ago, made a beautiful golden\ncasket and sent a pretentious commission to Candy with this casket,\nthe gift of the Burmese Buddhists, as the permanent receptacle of this\nmuch-lauded tooth.\n\nThat which makes the great Sway Dagon Pagoda famous above all others,\nis that it contains relics of Gautama. The story is that Burmese\nmerchants made their way to India, while Gautama was alive, and\nbecoming converts of his teachings, or system of belief, they were\nabout to return to Burma, when Gautama gave them some relics of his\nperson, saying that while they kept these relics they would observe\nhis system of doctrine. He then tore off a small piece of his priestly\nrobe, gave them his simple begging bowl, and pulled eight hairs out\nof his head, and gave them these also as keepsakes and reminders of\nhis teaching. These gifts they brought back to Burma, and over them\nerected a small pagoda, which formed the original portion of the\npresent great structure that has become so far famed in the Buddhist\nworld. The original structure must have been as insignificant as many\nthat are seen elsewhere. But as time went on, and the invention, for\nit could have been nothing else as in the case of the eyetooth at\nCandy, was accepted, the pagoda became more and more famous, and its\nsize was increased until its present dimensions were reached. It is\nnow 1,350 feet round its base, and rises to the towering height of\n328 feet. Its height is exceeded only by the pagoda at Pegu, but its\ngeneral dimensions are far greater than the latter, and its fame has no\nrival. Reliable accounts of the time of building the original pagoda\nare wanting. But it is pretty certain that its present dimensions were\nreached some five hundred years ago. I have been unable to learn when\nit was first covered with gold leaf.\n\n[Illustration: SHRINE, SWAY DAGON PAGODA]\n\nThe structure of this pagoda has many other important features.\nRound its base are found many forms of elephants, and small pagodas\nthat fairly line the lower circle. There are four shrines at the\ncardinal points of the compass. It will have been noted that the\npagoda, unlike all other designs of sacred buildings given to worship,\nhas no interior chamber. Excepting the small cavity given to the\nrelic, there is solid masonry throughout the vast structure. But the\nmost striking display of the pagoda is its covering of gold leaf. From\nbase to top every inch is covered with this golden coat. The devout\nBuddhists are always renewing this gilding. No provision is made to\nprevent the rains that beat upon the pagoda for six months of each\nyear from washing away this golden covering. Its rusty appearance on\nany part simply calls for more offerings for more regilding, by which\nthe devout Buddhist expects to gain much merit. I have been unable to\nlearn the cost of gilding the exterior, though it must be very great.\nThe pagoda is regilded about twice in ten years. It is difficult to\ndetermine the cost, as the gilding is put on in patches. The renewal\nhas never been done systematically, but by piece-meal. Besides this,\nthe umbrella that crowns the pagoda and its pendent rings are studded\nwith precious stones and jewelry to the value of two hundred and fifty\nthousand dollars. The four shrines are ornamented with hand-carving\nwrought out with great pains and skill. There are two very large chests\nnear the entrance to the pagoda area, into which all devout Buddhists\nvisiting at this temple drop their offerings. These gifts are taken\ncare of by the trustees of the pagoda, and expended on its maintenance.\nRound about the temple is an open court, which would accommodate many\nthousands of visitors, and ofttimes it is crowded to its fullest\ncapacity. On the outside of this court, and inside the walls that make\nup the four sides of the square known as pagoda hill, there is a grove\nof palms and peepul-trees. The latter is the sacred tree of Buddhism,\nand it is usually found wherever pagodas have been built. Underneath\nthese trees, and entirely surrounding the pagoda inclosure, there are\nmany large pavilions, most of them open to all comers, where images\nof Gautama are numbered by the hundreds. A few images of Gautama are\nin closed structures behind glass and iron bars. Other symbols of\nthe Buddha or his teaching are there also; but images of Gautama are\nby far the most numerous. Gautama is represented as reclining on his\nright side, with his head supported by his hand; as sitting, which is\nthe accepted position; and standing. These are three chosen attitudes.\nThese three postures are all that are commonly used. The images are\nmade of brass, of marble, and of alabaster. Some of them are of the\nnormal size of a man, and some of them are many times larger, but all\nbear the impassive features of a man absorbed in meditation. These\nimages always bear distinctly Burmanized features.\n\nThere are also great bells about the Sway Dagon Pagoda. The larger\nbells are supported on great wooden beams, and are rung by all the\nworshipers, and even by the idle passer-by. But the strange thing about\nall this area of the pagoda is that it is open to all peoples, and no\nobjects except the inclosed images are protected in any way. This is\nnot true of either Mohammedan mosques or Hindu temples. All Buddhists\ntake off their shoes or sandals before going up the steps. And if any\nAsiatic should attempt to go up the stairs with shoes on, he would be\nordered to make bare his feet. Europeans are not so restricted. But\nthis appears to be the only special requirement for admission to the\npagoda area. So it comes to pass that the devout Buddhist strikes the\ngreat bells with the wooden beam, or horns of an elk that are kept for\nthat purpose, and the next passer-by may be an idle globe-trotter, who\nstrikes the bell to only test the melody of its sound.\n\nWorship at a pagoda is a study. The idea of worship in Buddhism\ndiffers so widely from that of any other religion, that it makes the\nstudent of comparative religions pause with astonishment. Buddhism is\nvery much a religion of negations at best. There is little that is\npositive in it. There is no God according to pure Buddhism. It does\nnot teach an unending personal immortality. The character of existence\nbeyond death is believed to be through various transmigrations of\nbeasts, demons, and elevated spirits to final extinction of personal\nexistence in _Nirvana_. Continued existence is considered a calamity.\nTo extinguish personality in _Nirvana_ is the supreme goal. In that\nloss of personal identity man passes from under the necessity of being\nreborn. In all the struggle in which man is engaged he has no aid from\nwithout himself. His own meritorious acts must bring him through all\nlower existences, and finally drop him into the oblivion of _neikban_.\nBefore men can reach this goal, they must have passed through myriads\nof existences, many of these lives being spent in hells filled with\nall tortures. The hells of Buddhism are filled with terrors measured\nonly by the wildest imagination, lasting through millions of years.\nBuddhism is a system in which there is no God to hear a prayer or\nspeak a consoling word. Then what is worship under such a religion, if\nindeed it be a religion? The people and the yellow-robed priests fill\nthe spaces before these several shrines, and there offer flowers and\nfood to the images of Gautama. Or they sit upon their heels about the\nopen court that surrounds the pagoda, and offer their flowers toward\nthe pagoda, lifting them toward the top of the gilded dome, while they\nlaud the great teacher of Buddhism. In none of these acts is there any\nreal prayer. There is no confessing of sin or need, nor hope even that\nGautama can hear, as he is supposed to have ascended to _Nirvana_ and\nto have attained to annihilation of conscious self. The whole of their\nworship seems to be made up of laudations of the name and character of\nGautama, and his law, and the Buddhist priesthood. All worship consists\nin praise of an extinct personality on the part of a man whose highest\nhope is to attain unto like personal extinction! But in all the\ndreary and weary struggle there is no eye to pity and no hand to help\nto attain this goal of spiritual suicide.\n\n[Illustration: FRONT OF A GAUTAMA TEMPLE]\n\nOne of the incongruities about this great pagoda I found in the fact\nthat the watchmen are Hindus. Perhaps no temple of non-Christians,\nsave that of Buddhists, is cared for by men of other faiths. Christian\nChurches in Southern Asia do often employ Hindus or Mohammedans to care\nfor them and act as collectors of their funds. But none but Mohammedans\ngo into a Mohammedan mosque, and only Hindus enter a Hindu temple.\nThere sits a Mohammedan also inside the pagoda area selling coffee and\nbread to all who wish to buy. Bishop Thoburn once remarked that perhaps\nonly in Burma, and that at a Buddhist place of worship, could such an\nincongruous sight be witnessed.\n\nAnother feature of the pagoda area is that at its four sides, east,\nwest, north, and south, it is bounded by brick walls, rising four or\nfive feet above the pagoda area, and of several feet in thickness.\nThe Burmese fortified the pagoda, and the English have done likewise.\nAt the base is another higher wall, and inside of this a moat. The\nEnglish soldiery guard the pagoda hill, and the ordnance department\nof the British garrison stationed at Rangoon is inside the outer wall\non the west of the pagoda. The guard is not seen about the court. In\nthe northeast corner of the pagoda area are several graves of British\nofficers and soldiers who fell in storming that fortress in 1852. From\nthe southeast corner of the inclosure you see the slope up which that\nband of soldiers charged, and half down the hillside are a number of\ngraves which are unnamed, and around them a wall is built. Here the\ncommon soldiers fell in that charge. They died for \u201cGreater England.\u201d\n\nFrom the pagoda wall you can get one of the finest views in Lower\nBurma. To the south and southeast lies the greater part of the city\nof Rangoon. At the lower extremity of the city the Pegu and Rangoon\nRivers unite their ample breadth of waters. The great rice mills line\nthe river and its larger tributaries, and lift their tall chimneys\nabove every other building of the city. To the left the beautiful Royal\nLakes reflect the tropical sunlight in dazzling brightness, while to\nthe northward the sweep of vision includes many stately houses of the\nresidents of Kokine, the fashionable suburb of the city.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nBuddhism; How Maintained\n\n\nThe hoary system of Buddhism must have some elements of vitality to\nkeep it in existence through the twenty-six centuries of its history.\nThat it has long since passed the stage of its greatest power is quite\neasily believed. That such a system could remain the religion of\nprogressive races under the light of the present and the future, as\nindicated by the present, few will maintain. That the number of its\npresent adherents has been greatly exaggerated, there is no doubt. Some\nof the peoples which have been classed as Buddhistic in religion are\nclearly not distinctively of that faith.\n\nSir Monier Williams, in his great work on Buddhism, says that of real\nBuddhists, who are not more identified with some other religion than\nwith it, number not over one hundred millions of adherents, instead\nof five hundred millions, as some have claimed. He declares that\nChristianity, and not Buddhism, is the strongest religion numerically\nin the world.\n\nBut a religion with even one hundred millions of reasonably faithful\nadherents of its doctrines and practices demands our respectful study.\nIt is not possible within the limits here defined for the writer to\ndiscuss the many-sidedness of Buddhism, for all the elements of a faith\nmust have consideration in an attempt to set it forth comprehensively.\nIt is the writer\u2019s intention merely to outline some features of\nBuddhism most apparent to a missionary whose work lies in a Buddhist\ncountry. Buddhism is said to be in its purest form in Burma and Ceylon.\n\nA few general statements may be made. Buddhism never claimed to be\ndivine in its origin. It was originally entirely atheistic. It is\nhardly entitled to be called a religion. It is the most pessimistic\nphilosophy ever taught among men, or even conceived as yet, by any\nteacher. It inveighs against all natural desires or emotions however\nexalted, and disallows the holiest relationship. Society itself could\nnot exist if the fundamental teachings of Buddhism were observed. All\ninnocent joys are prohibited among those who would attain to _Nirvana_.\nIt makes self-destruction the highest aim of man. To cease to be born,\nand to extinguish personal consciousness, is set before its followers\nas the final goal to be sought. How can such a system, so opposed to\nall that men love, find millions of adherents?\n\nThere certainly is a fascination about the supreme renunciation in the\nsystem. Gautama certainly renounced much; and doubtless many of his\nfollowers have made such a sacrifice of desires as he. It is not here\nmaintained that this renunciation is wholly unselfish, but that it lies\nat the foundation of Buddhism; and however unhealthful a sentiment it\nis, it has always appealed to many minds. Those who will not make such\nrenunciations themselves revere those who do, and help sustain a system\nthat teaches such tenets.\n\nAnother source of the power of Buddhism is found in the system of\ndoctrine taught. It is all the stronger in that, as a system, it is\nconnected with a great teacher. It is true that Buddhism has more in it\nwhich Gautama did not teach, than of that which he did teach. But it\nis very easy for the Buddhist to connect any teaching of his religion\ndirectly with his idea of Gautama. When a religion with a system of\ndoctrine meets with the nebulous beliefs and incoherent practices of\ndemonology, or like beliefs, it must steadily gain adherents. Buddhism\nhas a literature of much importance. To have sacred books, which can\nbe appealed to in support of the voice of the living preacher, or\nteacher, is a great source of power. We see in Burma that the more\nbackward races are becoming Burmanized and converted to the Buddhist\nreligion. When they have become Buddhists, as in the case of Karens, it\nis the testimony of all missionaries that they are much more difficult\nto convert to Christianity. This Buddhist \u201claw\u201d is one of the three\nobjects of reverence, or worship, enjoined by Gautama.\n\nGautama exalted the brotherhood of monks. They have become one of the\nthree objects of veneration. Dressed in their yellow robes and admitted\nto the monastic order, they are thereby exalted in the minds of\nBuddhists far above the ordinary man. So much so, that in all addresses\nto them the highest terms of honor are used. On some occasions they\nare actually worshiped. When a monk, or _poungyi_, leaves the assembly\nof monks, which is frequently the case, he at once drops to the level\nof the ordinary man. But while he is a member of the order, he is\nregarded as a superior, worthy of all reverence even by his own family.\nThese monks, with their yellow robes and beads and boy attendants, are\neverywhere, except at weddings and festivals, though often gathering\nin crowds a little apart from the latter. The daily going forth with\nthe begging bowl to receive the food given by the devout, or even\nrespectable laity, is an object-lesson in Buddhism. The distinctive\nbuildings called _choungs_, in which the monks always live, are found\nin every village; and whole blocks of these buildings in all towns and\ncities proclaim the teachers of Buddhism. These houses of the monks\nare invariably the best buildings in the village. This conspicuous\nadvertisement of the monastic teachers does much to keep the system\nwhich they represent ever before the people in a conspicuous way.\n\n[Illustration: BUDDHIST MONK AND ATTENDANT]\n\nBut the monks do two distinctive services for their faith of a more\npositive kind. They teach practically every boy in Burma. They teach\nthe boys to read, and they indoctrinate them. No boy is considered to\nhave a human spirit at all. He must remain an animal until he has spent\nat least one day in the monastery. But aside from this approach to\nthe sacred order of monks, all Burmese boys attend school for some\nlength of time, and usually learn to read their language passably well.\nThey certainly learn the Buddhist doctrines. So it comes to pass that\nmost Burmese know what they believe, however inconsistent with this\nbelief they live. They also learn the elements of arithmetic, as well\nas the grotesque teachings of Buddhism in geography of these teachers.\nIn estimating the strength of Buddhism, and its ability to maintain\nitself, the monastic school, uniting a religious order with the\ninstruction of all the male childhood and youth, stands easily first of\nall its sources of power.\n\nThere are schools conducted by laymen in almost every large village.\nThese schools do not generally have a continuous existence, but so\nlong as a teacher can get scholars he keeps his school going. In these\nlay schools also some Buddhistic instruction is imparted. So that the\nBuddhist youth is the exception who has not been indoctrinated with\nBuddhist teaching. Without knowing why he is a Buddhist, nevertheless\nhe proclaims himself as a Buddhist, and will give a fair statement of\nhis belief. The missionary must bring his message to a mind pre-empted\nby Buddhist doctrine taught by the yellow-robed monk.\n\nFrom this statement of the Buddhist school system of the Burmese, and\nto its power as a religious agency, the reader, as does the missionary,\nwill see the imperative need of Christian schools to take the place of\nthe Buddhist schools. Their efficiency as a missionary agency can not\nbe over-estimated. Each of the large missions now operating in Burma\nhas adopted this strategic agency with very encouraging results. Many\nBuddhists do not hesitate to send their boys to a mission school if it\nis equipped to do superior work. Here, then, is Christianity\u2019s greatest\nopportunity among the young. That mission will show greatest wisdom\nwhich gives Christian schools of the higher grades special attention.\n\nThere are doctrines of Buddhism, aside from the moral precepts or\nregulations for the conduct or belief of its adherents, which may be,\nall unconsciously to the Buddhist, of great attraction. Buddhism, as\nhas been noted, like most other Eastern philosophies, teaches that men\npass through many births through countless ages, and transmigration\nthrough men, animals, and spirits. This transmigration may be endless,\nand will be, if the individual does not attain to _Nirvana_. Now, while\na man\u2019s place in the scale of being is determined by the conduct of\nthe life that now is, there is nothing final in this life as affecting\ndestiny. If he sinks in the scale of being, he can rise in the same by\nhis conduct in another existence. The time taken to make his recovery\nfrom the consequences of his demerits in this life may be ages; still\nhe can retain all that he has lost by a bad life here. It therefore\ncomports with men\u2019s wish that they can commit acts not wholly agreeable\nto the known or believed rules of conduct, and yet they believe they\ncan escape after a long time the consequences of such trifling with\ntheir moral code. It is a pleasant belief of human nature, wishing\nto indulge in that which is forbidden, to sacrifice some future\nblessedness for a present gratification, if at the same time the man\ncan believe that the loss may at some future time be recovered. To a\ntemporizing conscience this is a very comforting doctrine.\n\nBuddhism teaches that character and states of existence are determined\nfinally by a man\u2019s unaided efforts. Human nature in all lands takes\nkindly to such teaching. If men could purchase salvation at a price\nin payment or sacrifice of even life itself, there would be many\napplicants for eternal life, who will not receive it as a gift.\nBuddhism is very complimentary to self-conceit when it teaches that\nwe need no God to enlighten us, no Savior to save us, but that we\ncan recover ourselves. That only our own acts can affect our scale\nof being and ultimately determine our destiny, in every varying\nmerit or demerit, is believed. Building and gilding a pagoda lays\nup a great store of merit, and to engage in meditation is the most\nmeritorious work of all. Their whole system of the merit of works\nbreeds inordinate conceit, and hence is a very pleasant doctrine to\nmen. To save themselves, and not to be saved by the vicarious sacrifice\nof another, is pleasing to pride. I think all agree that this belief in\nself-acquired merit is one of the strongest bulwarks of Buddhism.\n\nThe student of religion who looks for its effect on the people, is at\nfirst perplexed at a singular paradox among the Burmese Buddhists. He\nfinds a religion that frowns upon the innocent joys of life, and much\nmore upon all spectacular demonstrations. It especially discourages\ntheatricals and feasting. The natural effect of such a religion would\nbe to depress the spirit and overshadow the life. It would pluck\nup all gayety from a people. But we find the Burmese Buddhists the\ngayest and most light-hearted race of the Orient. Their religion to\nthe contrary, they have more music, dancing, and theatricals than\nany other people. And in all this they regard themselves as the most\nconsistent Buddhists. They even connect a festival with almost every\nspecial religious duty. It therefore comes to pass that they harmonize\nfestal joys with the utter prohibition of them by their religion, and\ncount the practice and the \u201claw\u201d that interdicts it equally \u201cgood.\u201d\nBy observing this fact, it is clear that the drastic prohibitions of\nBuddhism have no place at all in life practice. If, therefore, this\ncontradiction of Buddhism does not add to its strength, it at least\nallows the adherent to accept and reject such portions of the Buddhist\nlaw as may be convenient, and as suits his fun-loving and easy-going\ndisposition. In this way the Burman comforts himself with the belief\nthat he is a devout Buddhist, and at the same time escapes all the\ndepressing effects on his nature that would result if he actually\nundertook to keep either the letter or spirit of the Buddhist law. So\nit appears this paradox is explained.\n\n[Illustration: FUNERAL PYRE OF A BURMESE PRIEST]\n\nExamples of their ability to turn any circumstance into a festival\nis seen at their funerals. When an ordinary man dies the friends gather\nand bring food, and keep up a several days\u2019 feasting. On the day of the\nfuneral long lines of oxcarts are drawn up, each with some offering\nfor the _poungyis_, or priests. These gifts to the priests seem to\nbe about the only religious part of the ceremonies. Then with bands\nplaying, and often dancers and buffoons performing at the head of the\nprocession, they move away to the burial ground. On several occasions I\nsaw half-drunken men carrying the coffin on a tall, loosely-constructed\nframework, dancing with all their might under their burden. Sometimes\nit seemed the coffin would fall to the ground.\n\nI have seen the burial of a Buddhist nun where the procession contained\nsixty-one stands of presents, one for each year of the nun\u2019s life,\ncarried in front of the corpse. These presents were intended for the\npriests, and they enabled the donors to gain merit, make a show, and\nenjoy a festival all in one. The presents were of plates, towels, and\ncarpets, amounting to about ten dollars a stand, or over six hundred\ndollars in value in all. The _poungyis_ often preach against the\nfestivals, but I have never heard that they ever refused to receive the\npresents, an indispensable feature of the display.\n\nThere are great festivals gotten up at the burning of a priest who\nhas been much venerated. He may have enjoyed a reputation for great\nlearning, and perhaps lived to a good old age. The body is kept, if\nthe priest should die in the rainy season, until the dry weather brings\na time suitable for camping in the fields. Arrangements having been\ncompleted, a place, usually a cleared rice field, is selected, and\nbooths are constructed to accommodate the gathering people. Material\nis procured, and a very large skeleton framework of dry poles is\nconstructed in imitation of the seven-fold roof of a monastery. This\nframework is covered over with matting and paper, on which is much\nornament, usually of a pictorial character. Great ropes are drawn\nhigh up into the framework, where it is designed the coffin shall be\nplaced before the burning. A procession is formed to bring the body in\ngreat state, with all kinds of symbolical banners and imitations of\nthe sacred elephant. The casket is placed on these great ropes, and\nskillfully drawn into the tower of the structure. When the body is once\nin its place, the younger men hastily take up burning spears, as fire\nbrands, and hurl them into the combustible material, and in an instant\nall is aflame. Soon there is nothing but ashes. The camp is broken up,\nand the people return home. They have had a great festival lasting in\npreparation over many days, and have performed a pious work of merit.\nThey have violated much of Buddhist teaching; but by their spectacular\nfestival they have helped to perpetuate Buddhism in the community. I\nwitnessed preparation for one such burning near Rangoon. The firing of\nthe pyre occurred on Sunday, amidst a great throng of all the nations\nrepresented in Burma. The full account was given in the daily papers,\nand it is said that thirty thousand dollars was spent in cremating the\none body, that of a noted monk. Recent word from Mandalay tells of the\ncremation of the body of the chief bishop of Buddhism in Burma. It is\nsaid twenty thousand people were present at this festival. Yet the\nbishop had always preached that all festivity was wrong, and the whole\nBuddhist people declared the \u201claw\u201d was good.\n\nThe same contradictions are apparent in their theological teaching. One\ninstance will suffice as an illustration. Fish is a common and much\nappreciated article of food in Burma, and has been for centuries. The\npeople have come to regard fish as necessary to their food as rice.\nThis creates a great demand for fish, and consequently calls for a\nmultitude of fishermen. But by Buddhist teaching the fishermen, or\nthe hunter, is doomed to the deepest hell for taking life. They teach\nthat there are four great hells, one below another, and the fisherman\nis doomed to go to the bottom of the lowest hell, and can not get out\ntill he spends fifty million years in each of the four hells. And only\nafter that could he hope to be born a man again on earth. Meantime\nthe well-fed Burman who fattens on the fish, who made the fisherman\nnecessary, thinks he not only has no responsibility for the other\u2019s\nsin, but is making good headway toward _Nirvana_! The fisherman, when\ninterviewed, is quite at ease. Question him of the sin of taking the\nlife of the fish, and he will confidently tell you: \u201cI do not kill the\nfish. I only drag it out of the water, and the hot sun kills it.\u201d Both\ndeclare themselves good Buddhists, and that \u201cthe Buddhist law is good.\u201d\nIt leaves liberty enough for any number of specious pleas to avoid\npersonal responsibility for violating the Buddhist prohibitions, while\nthe votaries of Buddhism are still pretending to keep the \u201claw.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nBuddhism and Christianity Contrasted\n\n\nComparative religion is one of the most fascinating studies. In\nChristian lands well-informed people are ever ready to receive any\nnew light on any of the principal religions of the world. In the East\nalso there is inquiry after the tenets of differing faiths. It is true\nthe inquiry in the Orient is confined to a few of the most advanced\nminds, and it is also doubtful if the inquiry is often fairly made. The\ndisposition seems to be to assume, to begin with, that some religion\nlike Hinduism, or Buddhism, is the religion of most truth, and then to\nshow that Christianity has some things in common with these faiths. The\ndeduction is then easily drawn that one can be an eclectic in religion.\nI have seen Europeans in the East who, in an off-handed way, would\nsay: \u201cIt is wrong to try to convert the Burmese from their Buddhism\nto Christianity. Their religion is better for them than ours would\nbe.\u201d I have not heard such a remark from any one who pretended to be\na Christian in any devout or spiritual sense. He would be a Christian\nonly in the sense that he belonged to the European community, who are\nalways called \u201cChristians\u201d by those of other faiths.\n\nBuddhism has had much praise for its moral precepts, and its general\npractice of total abstinence from all alcoholic drinks. This\nprohibition has been widely observed. It is probable that Buddhism was\nthe first religion to require total abstinence. Then Buddhism gave\nwoman a freedom that no other religion of the East allows. Contrasted\nwith Hinduism or Mohammedanism in this respect, Buddhism must be highly\ncommended. But it is another matter when men assume that one religion\nis as good as another, or estimate Buddhism as a religion of comfort\nand light, when it has neither.\n\nIt is not the purpose of this book to attempt a comprehensive statement\nof comparative religions, much less a discussion of that idea. But\nit is my purpose to set before the reader that wherein Buddhism is\ncontrasted with Christianity, believing that Christianity, and it\nalone, satisfies the wants of any human soul. I have desired to\nshow wherein Buddhism fails in all essential features to measure up\nto this need of man for a perfect religion. It is not intended to\ndisparage any incidental good that Buddhism may possess, but to show\nthe contrast with Christianity in its fundamental teachings. In this\nI am not dependent on my own research, but can accomplish my purpose\nbest by quoting from Sir Monier Williams. This great scholar and author\npublished his works on Buddhism as a culmination of extended studies in\nthe great religions of the world. It is the ripest fruit of his high\nscholarship. He published this work just a few years before he died.\nFrom his chapter on \u201cBuddhism Contrasted with Christianity\u201d I have\nquoted at length, believing his contrasts are exhaustive and entirely\ntruthful.\n\nThis eminent author doubts if Buddhism is a religion at all. After\npostulating that every system assuming to be a religion must declare\nthe existence of an eternal God, and the immortality of the soul\nof man, he further declares that such a system must satisfy four\nrequisites:\n\n\u201cFirst. It must reveal the Creator in his nature and attributes to his\ncreature, man.\n\n\u201cSecondly. It must reveal man to himself. It must impart to him a\nknowledge of his own nature and history--what he is; why he was\ncreated; whither he is tending; and whether he is at present in a state\nof decadence downwards from a higher condition, or of development\nupwards from a lower.\n\n\u201cThirdly. It must reveal some method by which the finite creature may\ncommunicate with the infinite Creator--some plan by which he may gain\naccess to him and become united with him, and be saved by him from the\nconsequences of his own sinful acts.\n\n\u201cFourthly. Such a system must prove its title to be called a religion\nby its regenerating effect on man\u2019s nature; by its influence on his\nthoughts, desires, passions, and feelings; by its power in subduing\nall his evil tendencies; by its ability to transform his character and\nassimilate him to the God it reveals.\u201d\n\nThis writer claims what all must admit, that early Buddhism failed in\nall these requisites, and was not a religion. It refused to admit a\npersonal Creator, or man\u2019s dependence on a higher power. \u201cIt denied any\nexternal Ego in man. It acknowledged no external revelation. It had no\npriesthood--no real clergy; no real prayer; no real worship. It had no\ntrue idea of sin, or of the need of pardon, and it condemned man to\nsuffer the consequences of his own sinful acts without the hope of help\nfrom any Savior or Redeemer, and indeed from any being but himself.\u201d\n\nA few years ago a former bishop of Calcutta saw a Buddhist in a\ntemple, and asked him, \u201cWhat have you been praying for?\u201d \u201cI have been\npraying for nothing.\u201d \u201cTo whom have you been praying?\u201d He answered, \u201cI\nhave been praying to nobody.\u201d \u201cWhat, praying for nothing to nobody?\u201d\nsaid the astonished bishop. This is a fair sample of the religious\nexpression of Buddhists.\n\nThis eminent writer admits that later Buddhism has developed a great\nreverence for Buddha, the law, and the monkhood, which is some\nexpression of man\u2019s sense of need. But in reality this is a cry from\nthe hungry heart of man for God, which Buddhism does not recognize nor\nfoster. Pure Buddhism is atheistic. This author also considers what\nclaim Gautama has to the title, \u201cThe Light of Asia.\u201d He first points\nout that \u201chis doctrines spread only over Eastern Asia, and Confucius,\nor Zoroaster, or Mohammed, might equally be called \u2018The Light of\nAsia.\u2019\u201d He also maintains that Gautama was not a true light in any\nsense; that he claimed little higher than intellectual enlightenment\nresulting from intense concentration of all man\u2019s intellectual powers\nin introspection. He did not claim to have any voice regarding the\norigin of evil, nor concerning a personal God. His \u201clight,\u201d in this\nrespect, was \u201csheer darkness.\u201d And so the system he founded is as\ndevoid of \u201clight\u201d as midnight. \u201cAll that he claimed to have discovered\nwas the origin of suffering and the remedy of suffering. All the light\nof knowledge to which he attained came to this: That suffering arises\nfrom indulging desires, especially the desire for the continuity\nof life; that suffering is inseparable from life; that all life is\nsuffering; and that suffering is to be gotten rid of by the suppression\nof desires, and by the extinction of personal existence.\u201d\n\nHere he makes his first great contrast in the teachings of Christ and\nGautama, and says in part: \u201cIt is noteworthy that both Christianity and\nBuddhism agree in asserting that all creation groaneth and travaileth\nin pain, in suffering, in tribulation. But mark the vast, the vital\ndistinction in the teaching of each. The one taught men to be patient\nunder affliction, and to aim at the utter annihilation of the suffering\nbody.\u201d Further: \u201cBut, say the admirers of Buddhism, at least you admit\nthat the Buddha taught men to avoid sin, and to aim at purity and\nholiness of life! Nothing of the kind. The Buddha had no idea of sin\nas an offense against God; no idea of true holiness. What he said was,\nGet rid of the demerit of evil actions, and accumulate a stock of\nmerit by good actions. And let me remark here, that the determination\nto store up merit, like capital at a bank, is one of those inveterate\npropensities of human nature, one of those deep-seated tendencies in\nhumanity which nothing but the divine force imparted by Christianity\ncan ever eradicate. It is forever cropping up in the heart of man, as\nmuch in the West as in the East, as much in the North as in the South;\nforever reasserting itself like a pestilential weed, or like tares\namidst wheat, forever blighting the fruit of those good instincts which\nunderlie man\u2019s nature everywhere.\u201d\n\nHe shows the contrast of Gautama and Christ; the former claiming to\nbe self-sent, having no divine commission and no external revelation,\nwhile the latter claimed to be sent from God; to be the Son of God,\nwhose every word has divine authority; that the gospel is to be\nproclaimed to every man in all generations, and that Christ himself was\nthe Way, the Truth, and the Life. He proceeds to contrast the Christian\nBible with the Buddhist: \u201cThe characteristics of the Christian\u2019s Bible\nare that it claims to be a supernatural revelation, yet it attaches\nno mystic, talismanic virtue to the mere sound of words. On the other\nhand, Buddhism utterly repudiates all claim to be a supernatural\nrevelation; yet the very sound of its words is believed to possess\na meritorious efficacy capable of elevating any one who hears it to\nheavenly abodes in future existences. In illustration, I may advert\nto a legend current in Ceylon, that once on a time five hundred bats\nlived in a cave where two monks daily recited the Buddha\u2019s law. These\nbats gained such merit by simply hearing the sound of the words, that\nwhen they died they were all reborn as men, and ultimately as gods.\u201d\n\nWe are given another contrast in the kinds of self-sacrifice taught by\nthe two systems. \u201cBut again I hear the admirers of Buddhism say: Is\nit not the case that the doctrine, like the doctrine of Christ, has\nself-sacrifice as its keynote? Well, be it so. I admit that he related\nof himself that, on a particular occasion in one of his previous\nbirths, he plucked out his own eyes, and that on another he cut off his\nown head as a sacrifice for the good of others; and that again, on a\nthird occasion, he cut his own body to pieces to redeem a dove from a\nhawk. Yet note the vast difference of the sacrifice taught by the two\nsystems. Christianity demands the suppression of selfishness; Buddhism\ndemands the suppression of self, with the one object of extinguishing\nall consciousness of self. In the one the true self is elevated and\nintensified. In the other the true self is annihilated by a false form\nof non-selfishness, which has for its real object not the good of\nothers, but the annihilation of the Ego, the utter extinction of the\nillusion of personal individuality.\u201d\n\nThe doctrines which Christ and Gautama bequeathed to their followers\npresent an equally great contrast. From the vast difference between\nthem it is comparatively easy to believe the statement from Christ that\nhe brought a divine revelation, and from Gautama that he was self-sent\nand had no revelation to make to his followers. The contrast between\nthe two systems has been arranged by the same author.\n\n\u201cAccording to Christianity: Fight, and overcome the world. According to\nBuddhism: Shun the world, and overcome it.\n\n\u201cAccording to Christianity: Expect a new earth when the present\nearth is destroyed; a world renewed and perfected; a purified world\nin which righteousness is to dwell forever. According to Buddhism:\nExpect a never-ending succession of evil worlds coming into existence,\ndeveloping, decaying, perishing, and reviving, and all equally\nfull of everlasting misery, disappointment, illusion, change, and\ntransmutations.\n\n\u201cAccording to Christianity, bodily existence is subject to only one\ntransformation. According to Buddhism, bodily existence is continued\nin six conditions, through countless bodies of men, animals, demons,\nghosts, and dwellers in various hells and heavens; and that, too,\nwithout any progressive development, but in a constant jumble of\nmetamorphoses and transmutations.\n\n\u201cChristianity teaches that life in heaven can never be followed by a\nfall to a lower state. Buddhism teaches that life in a higher heaven\nmay be succeeded by a life in a lower heaven, or even by a life on\nearth or in one of the hells.\n\n\u201cAccording to Christianity, the body of a man may be the abode of the\nSpirit of God. According to Buddhism, the body, whether of men or\nhigher beings, can never be the abode of anything but evil.\n\n\u201cAccording to Christianity: Present your bodies as living sacrifices,\nholy, acceptable to God, and expect a change to a glorified body\nhereafter. According to Buddhism: Look to final deliverance from all\nbodily life, present and to come, as the greatest of all blessings,\nhighest of all boons, and loftiest of all aims.\n\n\u201cAccording to Christianity, a man\u2019s body can never be changed into the\nbody of a beast, or bird, or insect, or loathsome vermin. According to\nBuddhism, a man, and even a god, may become an animal of any kind, and\neven the most loathsome vermin may again become a man or a god.\n\n\u201cAccording to Christianity: Stray not from God\u2019s ways; offend not\nagainst his holy laws. According to Buddhism: Stray not from the\neight-fold path of the perfect man, and offend not against yourself and\nthe perfect man.\n\n\u201cAccording to Christianity: Work the works of God while it is day.\nAccording to Buddhism: Beware of action, as causing rebirth, and aim at\ninaction, indifference, and apathy.\n\n\u201cAccording to the Christian Bible: Regulate and sanctify the heart,\ndesires, and affections. According to the Buddhist: Suppress and\ndestroy them utterly, if you wish for true sanctification.\n\n\u201cChristianity teaches that in the highest form of life, love is\nintensified. Buddhism teaches that in the highest state of existence,\nall love is extinguished.\n\n\u201cAccording to Christianity: Go and earn your own bread and support your\nfamily. Marriage, it says, is honorable and the bed undefiled, and\nmarried life is a field on which holiness may grow and develop. Nay,\nmore: Christ himself honored a wedding with his presence, and took up\nlittle children in his arms and blessed them. Buddhism, on the other\nhand, says: Avoid married life; shun it as if it were a burning of live\ncoals; or, having entered on it, abandon wife, children, and home,\nand go about as celibate monks, engaging in nothing but in meditation\nand recitation of the Buddha\u2019s Law--that is to say, if you aim at the\nhighest degree of sanctification.\u201d\n\nThen comes greatest of all distinctions, which separates Christianity\nand Buddhism.\n\n\u201cChristianity regards personal life as the most sacred of all\npossessions. Life, it seems to say, is no dream, no illusion. \u2018Life\nis real. Life is earnest.\u2019 Life is the most precious of all God\u2019s\ngifts. Nay, it affirms of God himself that he is the highest example of\nintense life, of intense personality, the great \u2018I Am That I Am,\u2019 and\nteaches us that we are to thirst for a continuance of personal life as\na gift from him, nay, more, that we are to thirst for the living God\nhimself and for conformity to his likeness; while Buddhism sets forth\nas the highest of all aims the utter extinction of the illusion of\npersonal identity--the utter annihilation of the Ego--of all existence\nin any form whatever, and proclaims as the true creed the ultimate\nresolution of everything into nothing.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat shall I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d says the Christian. \u201cWhat\nshall I do to inherit the eternal extinction of life?\u201d says the\nBuddhist.\n\nSurely in this comprehensive list of contrasts the great scholar has\nshown that there is an immeasurable height of moral and spiritual\nphilosophy, and revealed truth concerning God and man in the Christian\nreligion that Buddhism never conceived. It has no excellence in moral\nprecept that is not better stated by Christianity. Christianity sheds\na broad, clear light on the way to find salvation from sin. Buddhism\nhas no light, and no consolation. The human heart finds rest in the\none, but the other can not bring a moment\u2019s peace to any anxious or\nagonizing soul. Buddhism is a pessimistic, dark, and desolate system of\nphilosophy, mistaken for religion.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nRipened Fruit of Non-Christian Faiths\n\n\nIn setting before the reader the following account of painful scenes,\nmost of which I have witnessed, in connection with religious rites, I\nam aware that some may say that these facts, though admitted to have\ntaken place, are not characteristic of the religion in which they\nare found. Having given much attention to this pertinent question, I\nam convinced that they are some of the legitimate fruit of religious\nsystems without Christ. This book is not written to theorize about\nreligion, so much as to give an account of what a missionary sees\nliving in Burma in direct contact with its varied people.\n\nThe theoretical teaching of Buddhism, Mohammedanism, or Hinduism may\nbe one thing, while the practical religious usages may bear quite\nanother character. A people may naturally be very agreeable and have\nmany lovable traits, and yet their religious rites may degrade and not\nuplift the natural man. The saddest part of the following account is\nfound in its degradation of the ordinary healthful sentiments of the\npeople, in the name of religion.\n\nThen, again, what is done openly in the name of any religion, is done\nthat it may be seen and recognized as of that religion. Therefore, it\nis certainly characteristic. If the observance of this is repeated, or\nis related to that which is of frequent occurrence, it is certainly\ncharacteristic. That which is here recorded is the natural fruitage of\nthe religions which cheat the natural hunger of the human heart for the\nfavor of God, whom all have sinned against, but whose loving mercy is\nnot known among these Christless millions.\n\nBefore giving an account of the cruelties still observed by devotees\nand fanatics, it is well to remember some terrible practices which have\nbeen abolished in recent years. These include suttee, or widow-burning,\nhook-swinging, the Juggernaut, and marriage of little girls. These were\nall religious practices, but they were abolished by the Government.\nTheoretically and practically, the English Government in India is\nneutral in religion. Only a Christian Government could be strictly\nneutral in religious matters, though other Governments at times have\nbeen tolerant of other faiths to some extent. By proclamation, the\nEnglish rule in India is neutral in religion. This proclamation is\nadhered to literally, so that a Mohammedan, Hindu, or Buddhist has just\nas much protection under the law as a Christian, and neither has any\npowers above the other.\n\nHow, then, does it come to pass that the Government has interfered\nin religious rites? This was done only when such rites actually took\nlife, or endangered life. The Government\u2019s first duty is to protect\nthe lives of its subjects, even against self-destruction, where that\nis possible. Many questionable deeds are yet done by devotees in which\nthe Government has not interfered, though some of them are exceedingly\ncruel, because they have not actually endangered life.\n\nBut suttee, or widow-burning, has been prohibited by the Government,\nthough still practiced among the Hindus beyond the English border.\nBishop Thoburn gives an account of the burning of four widows in Nepal,\na little more than a quarter of a century ago. The dead husband had\nbeen high in the service of the Indian Government, and had been honored\nwith a title by Queen Victoria. He was a Hindu, and he died over the\nborder in Nepal, and four of his widows were burned with his body. This\nshows the spirit of Hinduism where it is not restrained by a Christian\nlaw. You can not burn people on any pretext under the British flag.\n\nHook-swinging was another horrible practice, which was put down in\nthe same way. Devotees were placed on hooks suspended on long ropes\nfastened high above, and the hooks fastened deep in the flesh of the\ndevotees. The body was then swung from side to side till its momentum\ntore the hooks from the flesh, and the torn and bleeding body fell to\nthe ground, perhaps to die, certainly to be permanently maimed. The law\nsuppressed this practice, and it is no longer perpetuated except in\nremote regions and under great secrecy.\n\nThe car Juggernaut, with its great idol, when drawn along the roads\nat the Juggernaut festival evoked such fanaticism that men threw\nthemselves under its great wheels, and were crushed. This practice has\nbeen prohibited by law. The festival is still observed, but men do not\nthrow themselves under the wheels. I have seen the great car, with its\nhideous idol, drawn past our mission-house in Rangoon, attended by\nthousands of Hindus, with all the noise and confusion of an Oriental\nprocession; but there is no blood on its wheels now, and no crushed\nbodies are left in the street.\n\nThere was another even more terrible custom prevalent in India for\nages, in which the Government had to interfere. It has for centuries\nbeen the custom of Hindus to give their little girls in marriage when\ntender children. They were married at ten or eleven years of age, or\neven at nine years. To appreciate this monstrous cruelty it should\nbe remembered that a child of the same age in Western lands is much\nstronger than a child in India. There were many mothers in India at\ntwelve years of age. The cruelties of this practice of child marriage\nwere such that they can not be written. Let it be remembered that this\npractice existed for hundreds of years, and that practically all the\nHindus approved it, although the sufferers were their own children. And\nwhen the terribleness of the practice was so pressed on the Government\nthat it could not avoid taking action, and consequently framed a bill\nto raise the age of consent to twelve years, before which it would\nbe unlawful to consummate marriage, the whole Hindu world rose up in\nprotest. They charged the bill to the oppression of the Government.\nFifty thousand Hindus met in public protest in the city of Calcutta.\nThis protest was from Hindus directed against a righteous law for the\nprotection of their children from this age-old cruelty!\n\nTo the writer it has been an experience of a painful kind to find a few\nAmericans crying out against the \u201cOppression of England in India,\u201d when\nthey are only echoing the cry of the Hindus against the righteous law.\nBut the law was enacted, and has had a wholesome effect so far as it is\nnot evaded by false statements of the age of the girls, which are often\nmade.\n\nBut if England had no other justification for her Government in India\nthan these four enactments, the Government would have much to its\ncredit. But these are legal protections thrown around her people to\nprevent them taking life, or perpetuating cruelty in the name of\nreligion. If monstrous things are still done, it is a comfort to know\nthat these named have been abolished.\n\nOnce each year a sect of Mohammedans torture themselves by running\nthrough the fire. This torture occurs during the feast which follows\nthe Mohammedan fast, or lent. During this fast the Mohammedan community\neat nothing from sunrise to sunset. They may eat a great deal after\nsunset and before sunrise. Having fasted in this manner for forty\ndays, they feast for three days. But this does not include all of the\ncommunity. There is a division of the Mohammedans dating back to the\ndeath of Mohammed. A quarrel then arose over his successor as leader\nof the Mohammedans. One party held to Hassan and Hoosan, the sons of\nthe prophet; and the opposing party stood for another leader. This\ndivision led to war, in which Hassan and Hoosan were slain and their\nparty defeated. This contention has been maintained until the present,\nand those of the conquering party are known as _Sunni_ Mohammedans, and\nthe followers of Hoosan and Hassan are called _Shia_ Mohammedans. The\nlatter will not feast with the other party, and take this occasion to\ntorture themselves by running through the fire, as a protest against\nthe opposing sect.\n\nThe preparations for this torture by fire are made deliberately, and\nit is carried out on a large scale. First of all, they must secure\nthe permission of the Rangoon magistrate to this ordeal. Then they\npublish the places where it will occur, for it is celebrated in\nseveral localities on the same night. Ditches are dug deep enough to\nhold a great mass of coals, and two or more rods in length. On the\nday appointed, a large supply of dry wood being provided, a fire is\nkindled in the ditches about noon, and is kept burning until long\nafter dark. Meantime the ditch has been filled with coals smoldering,\nand kept alive, but not allowed to burn to ashes. As the earlier\nhours of the night have been passing, multitudes of all nationalities\nhave gathered at the scene of fire-running. They have to be kept at a\ndistance by a cordon of rope stretched about a considerable circle.\nAs midnight passes, a spirit of expectancy takes possession of the\nwaiting multitude, which is increased by shouts and excitement in a\nside street not far away. These are all according to the Oriental\u2019s\nidea of working up a climax of interest in his spectacular display. A\nlittle after midnight the fanatics who have been selected to undergo\nthis torture come rushing from a side street, carrying banners and\nshouting in increasing excitement as they enter the arena and approach\nthe fire on the run. Crowding close together at the end of the ditch of\nfire, they wave their banners, chant, shout, and shriek until a frenzy\npossesses them, and then they plunge into the fire with their bared\nfeet and legs! The first man to leap into the fire sinks more than\nhalf way to his knees in the fiery pit, and the next step also, and so\nthrough the ditch. As might be supposed, he plunges through as fast as\npossible with his greatest strides. He is followed in turn by every\nother of the twenty or more fanatics of his company.\n\nThey immediately collect at the other end of the ditch, and with even\ngreater frenzy than before scream, stamp the coals from feet, and\nplunge again through the ditch. So from end to end they rush till the\ncoals are dragged out of the ditch clinging to their feet and legs, or\nare kicked out on the surrounding ground. Then the fanatics disappear,\nand the multitude of curious onlookers disperse.\n\nThis cruel practice is carried out every year among these Mohammedan\nimmigrants to the province of Burma. The idea seems to be a frenzied\nappeal to God that their contention, settled by the sword in the\ndefeat of their party twelve centuries ago, was right. This particular\nrevolting exhibition may be a modern development; but if so, it is\nbut another evidence of the growth of fanatical extravagance of an\nimperfect faith. But viewed in any light, it is a sad commentary on the\nChristless Mohammedan world in this twentieth century of the Christian\nera. It is a fact to be lamented that Christian missions are not\ngenerally directed to the adherents of the Mohammedan faith.\n\nLest it be thought that such fanaticism is only representative of the\nlower class of people, let this circumstance be noted. On one occasion\nmy wife saw this \u201cfire-running.\u201d Just before the expected approach\nof the company designated to run through the fire, a finely-dressed\nMohammedan merchant came within the ropes, with the air of a man who\nintended to act as a self-appointed master of ceremonies over these\nfanatics, lest they act too outrageously. But when the excitement of\nthe occasion was on, and these common people were rushing through the\nfire, he began to show every indication of rising excitement. He sat\ndown, rose up, sat down again. He took off one shoe, jumped up, and sat\ndown again; then off came both stockings, and he plunged into the fire\nlike any other of these frenzied people. This shows the terrible power\nof such enormities over even the self-poised Mohammedan merchant.\n\nAnother scene we witnessed among the Hindus, even more revolting than\nthis annual exhibition among the Mohammedans. It was on a Sabbath-day,\nand Bishop Thoburn was with us on his biennial visit to Burma. The\nearly morning service at the English Church had been concluded, and we\nwere going to the mission-house in the cantonments. The day was growing\nalmost intolerably hot, especially under the direct rays of the sun, as\nit was in the latter part of April, the hottest time of the year. As\nwe rode along under the protection of our covered tum-tum, we saw just\nahead of us in the middle of the Signal Pagoda Road, the main street\nbetween the city and the suburbs, an excited company of Hindu pilgrims\nand their attendants. It is a striking fact, too, that the scene\nwe beheld was very near a Christian church located on that road--a\nChristian church dedicated to the worship of Him who died for all\nmen--and here by the side of that edifice on that Lord\u2019s-day, nearly\ntwenty centuries after the gospel was proclaimed to a sin-darkened\nworld, was enacted one of the most distressing cruelties of heathenism,\nand it is doubtful if the devotees, or their attendants, even dreamed\nof the salvation which every Christian temple should suggest! That\nChurch does nothing for missions, being content to preach only to those\nwho bear the Christian name.\n\nThere was a company of about twenty men, eight of whom were devotees,\nwhile the others urged them on their terrible way. Around each\ndevotee\u2019s neck was an iron ring supporting twenty-four small chains\nabout two feet in length. On the end of each chain was a large hook\nmade of wire, and these two dozen hooks were buried deep in the chest,\nsides, and back of each poor man. The flesh was raised in great welts\nover the buried hooks! But to add to the horrors of this torture, each\nman had an iron rod about the size of a slate-pencil thrust through\nboth cheeks, passing through the mouth, of course. Another rod of\nequal size pierced the tongue, which was drawn out of the mouth as far\nas could be done without plucking it from its roots, the rod holding\nit in that drawn condition, as it was held against the face by the\nstrained muscles. These hooks and iron rods piercing the flesh of body\nand face must have produced all the agony that the human frame could\nendure. Yet the cruelties of the heathen could add to even this. Most\nof the poorer natives of India go barefooted. But these devotees wore\nwooden sandals, not to protect the feet, but to torture them. Through\nthese sandals from below nails were driven and sharpened above, so that\nevery step each poor man took the weight of his body pressed upon the\nupturned nails, and must have produced a refinement of agony. To the\nnatural weight of the body was added a wooden arch often used among\nthis class of Hindus in Rangoon as a symbol, this arch being carried\non the shoulder and adding possibly twenty pounds to press down his\ntortured body upon those upturned nails! These poor deluded sons of\nour unhappy race, these devotees of a Christless faith, were agonizing\nalong this highway under a pitiless tropical sun, making their way to\na Hindu shrine eight miles away! Their condition was indescribable.\nTheir attendants were urging them forward with shouts, and were dashing\nwater on their protruding tongues, seemingly untouched with pity at\ntheir agony.\n\nThe very sight of this torture made the heart sick. I doubt if any\nChristian man could have endured the sight for any length of time. An\nindescribable faintness began to sweep over me; and the bishop, who has\na heart of great tenderness, could hardly speak; but as he turned to\nme I noted an expression of anguish on his face, as he said in broken\ntones: \u201cThat is the worst sight I have witnessed in thirty-five years\nin India; but that is the _ripened fruit of idolatry_.\u201d\n\nLet the reader again recall that this occurred in the closing years of\nthe nineteenth century of our gospel era. Let him also be informed that\namong all these thousands of Hindu immigrants to India there is not one\nmissionary giving his time to preaching Christ. The only reason there\nis not such a missionary is because there is no money in any mission\ntreasury to send him. There is plenty of money in Christian hands. If\nthe Christian men and women of those lands that are the heirs of all\ntemporal blessings, and of the Christian joys of the gospel centuries,\ncould realize the blackness of the night that has settled down on the\nChristless nations, who are heirs of thousands of years of increasing\nidolatry, they would hasten the messengers of life and light to these\npoor people.\n\nIf we turn to Buddhism and ask for correspondingly desperate\nconditions, we are at once assured that they are not found. Its friends\nwould assure us of its elevated character as a religion. But I am\nsure we find a sad enough condition among some of the most faithful\nBuddhists, and a refinement of cruelty in all classes of the adherents\nof the teachings of Gautama. The building of a pagoda is regarded as\nthe most meritorious deed, and even its repair or partial regilding\ngives a man honor and merit. But the serving of a pagoda renders a man\nan outcast. The only real outcast ever recognized in Burmese Buddhism,\nwhich is free from the Indian caste system, is the \u201cpagoda slave.\u201d\nPerhaps we ought to speak of this in the past tense, as the English\nrule has made it possible for these slaves to find their freedom, which\nwas impossible under Burmese rule, though even this legal liberty is\nnot recognized by the Buddhists.\n\nUnder Buddhist, or Burmese, order, whole families were set apart\nfor the pagoda service. Once in that service they were despised by\ntheir self-respecting co-religionists, and their children after them\nforever suffered their disabilities. Sometimes a certain number of\nfamilies in a village were arbitrarily picked up and set down at the\npagoda for this purpose, henceforth to be banished from the circle of\nrespectability. Never could any man get out of this degraded service.\nThe heaviest penalties were laid upon any who tried to aid him or his\nfamily to escape to any other calling.\n\nWhy this strange degradation of men and women who serve the pagoda,\nwhen the building of a pagoda exalts its builder here and hereafter,\ndoes not seem to be explained. Personally, I think it one of the\nstony-hearted cruelties natural to this faith. The priests were fed\ndaily out of the household\u2019s store; but the pagoda caretaker had to\nfight with the ownerless dogs, with which Burma abounds, for some of\nthe food offered to the images of Gautama! When the slave died he could\nnot have respectable burial. Sometimes his body was thrown out with\nthe refuse for the dogs to eat. This settled policy of Buddhism may\nbe truly said to be one of its perfected fruits, not mentioned by the\nfriends of the faith from Western lands.\n\nUnder British rule these people were allowed to become sellers of\nsupplies for the pagoda service, or to go away where, unknown and\ncarefully disguising their former life, they might work into some\nrespectable occupation, but never with the consent of Buddhist priests\nor self-respecting laymen, who had always despised the servant of the\ntemple. But the sight which always met the observers when visiting the\ngreat Sway Dagon Pagoda in Rangoon until recent years, was the line\nof lepers always piteously begging along its ascending steps. They\nwere classed with the pagoda slave, and were despised. It can not be\nsaid that they were really pitied, even though some corn or rice and\nan occasional copper coin were thrown them by the Buddhist climbing\nthe stair to Gautama\u2019s shrine. These lepers were born on these steps,\ndiseased, rotted, and died there! A more pitiable sight was never\nwitnessed than these poor, suffering creatures, practically expelled\noutside the bounds of Buddhist sympathy for no fault of character\nor conduct. Of course, the Buddhist would say that the leper\u2019s foul\ndisease was the _demerit_ of some past existence, and therefore he\nsuffers justly in his loathsome condition, and his ostracism from\nhuman sympathy! But this is only another heartless invention of a much\noverrated religion.\n\nThe reader will have made the contrast. Centuries of labor and millions\nin gifts to raise and perfect the great pagoda and to gild it and to\nbejewel its tinkling bells, all in honor of eight human hairs; while\nits own faithful adherents suffer and die without so much as a shed\nbeing built to shelter them! Millions for gilding brick and mortar, and\nnot the least coin to build a hospital for suffering and despairing\nmen! This is Buddhism\u2019s fruitage of the centuries. Let him praise the\ntender sympathies of this faith who will. To me it is one of the most\nheartless systems taught among men. The leper was an outcast here, and\ntaught to believe millions of years of existence in hell were awaiting\nhim hereafter. This was his portion in Buddhism.\n\nTurn now and witness what Christianity has done for him. Within the\ndecade of my writing, the Christian missions of Burma became strong\nenough to put their sympathies underneath the long suffering lepers.\nA Scotch leper mission is aiding the Wesleyans at Mandalay. Later\nthe Baptists in Moulmein, and the Catholics on their own account in\nRangoon, built leper asylums, the Government aiding also in their\nsupport; and the lepers in every municipality in Burma have been\ngathered into these Christian institutions, their sores bound up,\nmedicines to alleviate their sufferings given, abundant food and\nsuitable clothing provided, the first time to most of them during their\nagonized lives. Best of all, the gospel, with its help, love, and hope,\nis preached to them who had been bound to suffering for ages to come\nby their own religious system! If to the question, \u201cDo missions to the\nBurmese Buddhists pay?\u201d there could be offered only these three leper\nasylums, they would warrant the answer, \u201cYes.\u201d\n\nOne very hot afternoon I went with an assistant of the Wesleyan Leper\nAsylum, and took twenty-five of those lepers off the steps of the\nSway Dagon Pagoda, and securing their passage money from the Rangoon\nmunicipality, I sent them off to Mandalay. Later I visited that city\nand the asylum, and there beheld one hundred and forty of the lepers\ngathered from many places in Burma. They were so well cared for as to\nseem almost content in spite of their physical suffering. They were\nfed, clothed, and had the gospel preached to them in the true Christian\nspirit. Some of them were filled with peace and joy by conscious\ncommunion with Him who is so mightily preached by this institution of\nmercy. There was one leper, with hands and feet fallen off, an eye\ngone, and the tongue nearly eaten away; still on the piece of a face\nthat remained there shone a light seen only on the face of the man\nwho communes with God. In this glad vision I had my reward in having\naided in a small way to send so many afflicted ones to this Christian\nhaven. A thousand times since I have been made glad with the memory of\nwhat seemed that hot afternoon a very commonplace piece of work. But\nas it retreats into the past, and I know every poor sufferer will have\nhad Christian care all his days, it came to be recognized as one of my\ngreatest privileges as a missionary to have had some part in this work.\n\nWhen in the future the traveler comes to Burma and visits the pagoda,\nand when the resident passes through Rangoon\u2019s streets, and is not\npained with the vision of lepers begging at his feet, let them remember\nthat for centuries these Buddhist lepers were spurned by their own race\nand countrymen, and that it was the Christian missionaries who gathered\nthem into homelike asylums, there to receive loving Christian care. Let\nthem reflect that this contrast is one of principle in the two faiths.\nThe leper, agonizing in hopeless despair on the pagoda steps, was the\nperfected fruit of centuries of the teaching of the purest Buddhism to\nbe found.\n\nOne more illustration of the practical teaching of Buddhism presents\nitself. At Kemmendine, near Rangoon, is a Buddhist burial-ground.\nThere is a large pavilion near the entrance to the graveyard, on the\nceiling of which there have been various pictorial representations of\nthe teachings of Buddhism. Much of this is a portrayal of the many\nBuddhist hells. But there was for years a succession of pictures along\none border representing the Buddhist priest in the process of crushing\nout all sentiment and sympathy with even the greatest human distress.\nThe candidate for _neikban_ must destroy all desire; the last desire\nto give way is that for existence. This pictorial representation was\nevidently made to show the process of this suppression in progress.\nThe yellow-robed priest, who should represent the system, is seated\nin perfect composure looking on the distress of a sick man. There is\nnone to attend the sick, and the priest, of course, gives no aid. The\nnext picture shows the man approaching the crisis of death; in the next\nhe is actually dying. Then follows a succession of pictures showing\nother stages of dissolution, until only the scattered bones remain.\nThrough all the series of representations the priest sits with a face\nas expressionless as marble, and has not moved a muscle. Complete\nindifference to all experiences of human life is the virtue aimed at.\n\nTo show that this crushing out of all natural sensibility is a\ndifficult process, the artist has made another picture with a little\nhumor in it. The scattered bones suddenly become articulated, and the\nskeleton makes a wild leap upon the priest. This unexpected jump of the\nskeleton would be calculated to affright ordinary mortals to a degree;\nbut not so the priest. He only slightly turns his head. _He has nearly\nconquered all natural sentiment._ The last picture shows a skull and\ncrossbone, and the motionless priest sitting in perfect composure of\nfeatures and of person. He has conquered all desire!\n\nThis is the picture on the pavilion; but now with the writer look on\nthe living reality. On one occasion I attended a cremation in that\nburial-ground. Sometimes bodies are buried, and sometimes cremated if\nthe person was rich or much respected in life. The funeral pyre was\ncrudely made, and the burning presented a revolting sight that need\nnot be given in detail. When the body was nearly consumed some of the\npeople returned to the pavilion, and with them the widow, a grown son\nand daughter, and some smaller children of the deceased. Meantime\nfive priests had come in from the monastery, and sat in a row upon a\nplatform at one end of the structure. They had not been present at the\nplace of burning. They had rendered no service of consolation at all,\nthough they may have preached at the home the usual pronouncement of\nBuddhism, that all existence leads to misery, and therefore the way\nout of misery is to strive to get into neikban and cease to exist.\nMore than this, the funeral is the occasion over all others in which\ncostly presents far above the ability of the family are given to the\n_poungyis_, or priests. But real consoling service to the sorrowing\nthey give none. There is nothing springing from sympathy, pity, or hope\nin this religion.\n\nAs these five well-fed priests sat on that platform, the broken-hearted\nwidow, son, and daughters came forward, and bowed down and worshiped\nthem. The bruised and broken human heart cried in anguish and must\ncry for help, and Buddhism offers only the worship of a yellow-robed\npriest! Buddhism has no God. It tries to crush all human pity. But\nwhere shall the broken-hearted find rest? Worship these yellow-robed\npriests! That is all. What about the priests? There they sat, and\nchewed betel-nut and tobacco, spitting lazily at the cracks in the\nplatform, looking about idly and vacantly, utterly indifferent to the\nprostrate and broken-hearted family before them! Not a look of sympathy\nor pity, not even a glance of recognition cast in the direction of\nthe prostrate forms! This is the very real illustration in the living\npriest, of the pictorial representation of the priest of the Buddhist\nreligion given above! The Buddhist system is devoid of hope, pity,\nconsolation, or even ordinary human sympathy. It is as heartless as its\nown stony or brazen images of Gautama so universally worshiped. Men\nbecome like their gods.\n\n[Illustration: FESTIVITIES AT A POUNGYI\u2019S CREMATION]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nOutline of Christian Missions in Burma\n\n\nChristianity entered Burma with the incoming of traders and Governments\nfrom the West, as it did in the other portions of Southern Asia.\nSome of these traders and some of these representatives of nominally\nChristian Governments were unscrupulous adventurers. They were seldom\nmen of strict moral integrity, much less spiritual Christians. They\nwould not measure very high by present-day social standards, much less\nby the lofty standards of the gospel. They were Christians in name\nonly. The Portuguese gained some footing in Burma, as in all this\ntropical world, in the sixteenth century, and continued with varying\ninfluence for nearly two hundred years. They gained a foothold in\nBurma, and built a city called Syrian, and still bearing that name,\njust across the Pegu River from the present site of Rangoon. Here,\nhowever, they met utter defeat and destruction at the hands of the\ngreat Alombra, the founder of the Burmese Dynasty, of which King\nThebaw, deposed at Mandalay in 1886, was the last sovereign. This great\nking completely overthrew the Portuguese Government, and with it the\nonly form of Christianity then known among them, that represented by\nthe Roman Catholic Church of that day.\n\nThese venturesome Portuguese carried with them their religious\nobservances, and their priests always were active missionary agents.\nThey built a church at Syrian, the well-defined ruins of which still\nremain. They made converts among the Burmans. Whether their methods in\nconverting the Burmese were as unscrupulous as the Portuguese traders\u2019\nmethods were, we have no detailed account. But in this matter we are\nnot left in much doubt, as their attempts to convert the Burmese could\nnot have been much different from that employed in India at the same\nperiod, which unhappily we know only too well were in utter disregard\nof the true Christian spirit. But these missionaries of the Catholic\nChurch counted their converts by possibly the hundred thousand.\n\nThese foreigners on their shores were then, as all are now, regarded\nas representatives of the Christian religion. In Asia every man is\nregarded as an adherent of some religion. Little account is taken of\nwhether he represents his faith or misrepresents it. His Government and\nhis personal and social life are supposed to flow from his religion;\nso that the Christian religion, as represented by the Portuguese, was\nprobably despised as cordially by the Buddhists as their commercial\nprestige and Government authority were hated by the Burmese people. And\nwhen they made war to the extermination of the Portuguese settlements\nand their fortified city, and sunk their ships in the river, they\nalso dealt a fatal blow to Catholic missions in Burma. There remains\nlittle trace of their old-time teaching. This is very unfortunate;\nfor it is only just to say that even the Catholicism of two centuries\nago taught more truth concerning God and God\u2019s dealings with men than\nBuddhism ever did in its best state. Nominal Christianity, even when\nhalf idolatrous, kept the name of God alive in the minds of men, while\nthey waited for a better day in which the gospel would be preached in\nits purity.\n\nWith the beginning of the nineteenth century the British began to get\ncontrol of Burma, and this advantage has been followed by further\nacquisitions of territory until in 1886 Upper Burma was annexed, and so\nthe whole land has come under the English flag. During this century,\nwith its better Governmental conditions, the Catholic Church has\nre-established its institutions in all parts of the province. For many\nyears its growth was slow, and even now, in numbers, it is far exceeded\nby the Baptist mission. But in the last ten years there has been a\nmarked growth in the Catholic community. This has been to some extent\nby immigrants from India, who are Catholics. But the Church has been\naggressive in every respect. Its priests are multiplying in the cities,\nand they also have occupied strategic points in the interiors. They are\nespecially far-seeing in the acquisition of great properties in cities\nlike Rangoon and in building schools and charitable institutions. They\nare now engaged in building a great cathedral, to add to their already\nenormous properties in the capital city, and, as usual, have chosen a\nmost conspicuous location, near the great Government offices.\n\nOf course, in Burma, as elsewhere, they need the Protestant Churches,\nthough they will not admit it. They regard us all as heretics. But they\nhave been improved by Protestant missions, and need a great deal more\nof the same influence. While they give Protestants no recognition,\nsave in an external civility, they are indebted to Protestant activity\nfor the revival of that which is best in their own methods of work,\nespecially in education; and we will still have to teach a pure,\nspiritual, experimental religion as a protest against their mechanical\nritualism and exclusive pretension, and, most of all, against their\nsemi-idolatrous practices. A concrete example of this is found in the\nusages that make the Catholic cemetery on \u201cAll Souls\u2019 Day\u201d look like\nthe adorning of a Buddhist feast; that make them still celebrate mass\nannually with great pomp for the repose of the soul of their late\nbishop, a noble man, whom we Protestants would gladly believe to have\nbeen accepted of God in Christ Jesus, and not needing the unbiblical\nfiction of purgatory to purify his soul and fit it to dwell with God.\n\nBut the greatest missionary labors wrought in Burma have been wrought\nby the American Baptists. From Adoniram Judson, who landed in Burma in\n1813, until the present generation of missionaries, there has been an\nincreasing force of faithful and heroic men and women who have devoted\ntheir lives to the redemption of Burma. It is safe to say that the sum\nof the work of all missionaries of all other societies combined would\nnot equal that done by the Baptists. It is also true that the number\nof their converts from among the people of Burma equal, or exceed, the\nsum of all others. The mere outline of their extensive mission, with a\nhistory of eighty-eight years behind it, can not be given in the space\nallowed in the plan of this book. It is the writer\u2019s joy, however, to\nmake the fullest recognition of their great work that space will allow,\nand also in justice to others and the field, to point out some of their\nlimitations as a mission.\n\nIt is well known that the quality of their spiritual work is of the\nbest. They are faithful teachers of experimental religion, and they\nlead blameless lives. They are, and have been from the beginning,\nfaithful examples and witnesses for a sterling morality in a land\nwhere lax morals were too common. They have been advocates of total\nabstinence in a land where dram-drinking was, until recently, almost\nuniversal, and is still deeply intrenched in social usage, as\nliquor-selling is in business.\n\nThese same missionaries were pioneers in education, having extensive\nschools long before the Government had an educational system. They had\ngiven the Karens, among whom they have had their greatest successes,\na written language, as well as having led tens of thousands of them\ninto the Christian Church. The census of Burma in 1891 says the Karens\nhave been preserved as a people only by the labors of the missionaries.\nThese people now have many primary schools, as well as some of higher\ngrades.\n\nThere are two institutions of this higher education worthy of special\nmention. One is the Baptist college of Rangoon, with Rev. J.\u00a0N.\nCushing, D.\u00a0D., and a full corps of well-equipped teachers, and an\nattendance of more than five hundred students, including primary\ngrades. In schools of higher education in the East the lower grades\nare always taught also; hence the large total. The other is their\ntheological school at Eusein, near Rangoon, with which Rev. D.\u00a0A.\u00a0W.\nSmith, D.\u00a0D., has been connected for nearly forty years. This school\nhas from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty students\npreparing for the ministry. They represent several races, but are\nmostly Karens, corresponding with the greater numbers of these people\nin the Baptist Churches in the province. A large amount of the money\nfor the support of this theological school is paid by the Karen\nChurches.\n\nHere may be noted another important feature of the successful work\nof the Baptist mission. They have probably done as much toward\nteaching the native Churches self-support as any other great missions\nof Southern Asia. They have many churches and schools practically\nsupported by the villages in which they are found. It is true that\nmost of these are in the Karen villages, where the people live apart\nfrom all others and do not migrate much. It is noteworthy, also, that\nall peoples in Burma are in possession of far more means than in any\nother portion of the Indian Empire, and they can give more easily and\nmore in amount than in Upper India, the Telegu missions. Yet, after all\nallowances are made, the fact still remains, and it is most creditable\nto the mission, that they have developed self-support to an encouraging\nextent, by which other missions could profitably be instructed.\n\nThis mission has a large publishing-house, and a great quantity of\nliterature, mostly periodicals and tracts, is published. It also\ncirculates many books and pamphlets. The young Church has need of\nmuch of this, especially the Karens. This same press issues several\ndifferent styles of Judson\u2019s translation of the Bible into the Burmese\ntongue, and also the Karen, Shan, and Kachin, translations of the\nentire Bible, or portions of the Scriptures.\n\nIt is here, however, we meet a serious lack. The Burmese read more\nthan any other Oriental people, unless the Japanese be excepted. Yet\nthe literature adequate to carry on a great campaign of Christian\nenlightment of these Buddhists has never yet been produced. Perhaps\nthis lack is due to several causes, one of which is that there are only\na comparatively few Burmese Christians. But still, all missionaries\nshould face this need, and provide for it.\n\nThe translation of the Bible into Burmese would alone render the name\nof Judson immortal. But it has one serious defect that can not be\noverlooked in writing even a sketch of missions in Burma. He, being\nan ardent Baptist, has fixed the extreme Baptist teaching on the mode\nof baptism on the translation of the New Testament. Other bodies\njustly contend that this is not translating, but interpreting a modern\ndoctrinal controversy into the text of the Burmese Bible. The Baptists\ndeclare they can not yield anything of this position, and all other\nmissions are equally convinced they can not use a biased text. After\nlong negotiations seeking ground for a compromise, but failing, it has\nbeen decided to put out another translation of the New Testament, which\nalone, in the Judson translation, bears this particular defect. This\nnew translation is now in progress under the direction of the British\nand Foreign Bible Society. On this question the great Baptist mission\nneeds the teaching of other Protestant bodies on the mission-field as\nthey do in the home lands.\n\nWhile noting the extensive work of the Baptist mission in Burma, and\nso cordially rejoicing in their success, it becomes necessary to point\nout another limitation of this very successful mission. This defect\nis merely a limitation in the means to an end. Much as has been done,\nthis great society _can not evangelise Burma alone_. It is exceedingly\ndifficult for the people at home to understand that Burma is a very\ngreat country, and her peoples are diverse to a degree an American who\nhas not lived in Southern Asia can not understand.\n\nThe population of Burma numbers more than 8,000,000. Of these the\nBurmese Buddhists number more than 6,000,000. From these millions of\nBuddhists there are less than 4,000 converts in all the evangelical\nmissions in Burma. Karens number less than 500,000, and yet there is\na Christian community of nearly 100,000 among these people. So far\nas evangelization is concerned, the ingathering from the Karens has,\nto date, been nearly twenty per cent, while among the Burmans it has\nnot been one-fifteenth of one per cent. Yet the Burmese people are\nthe important people of the land in numbers and influence. They are\nsuperior people to the Karens, and they assert that superiority. It was\nhoped that the Burmese would be evangelized by the Karens, but that\nhope has not been realized, and it is not within practical missionary\nexpectation to look for it longer. There must be a stupendous and\nprolonged missionary campaign made to convert the Burmese millions.\nThis will require every devoted man and woman of every society that can\nbe rallied to this gigantic task. The further fact should be noted,\nalso, to show its urgency. While the Karens have been converted by the\nscores of thousands and the work of conversion and organization goes\nright on, though at a slower pace than at one time, it is probably true\nthat the Karens are being Burmanized and converted to Buddhism faster\nthan they are being converted to Christianity. Hence our greater\nmissionary campaign has yet to be planned, and it must be fought out\nwith Buddhism, and this will require all the available men and women\nand all the money all the societies now at work in Burma can get.\n\nHere we witness a providential ordering. God has called missionaries\ninto Burma from various lands and set them to a common task. Each\nset of missionaries may easily think they alone are, or should be,\nassigned to this field; but God, whose plans are far greater than man\u2019s\nnarrow vision, thrusts diverse agencies into the field, and the writer\nbelieves each could have abundant justification of its presence and\nhard work in the land.\n\nOne of the Churches longest represented in Burma is the Church of\nEngland. It is the policy of this Church to provide some service\nfor its people in remote regions. With the early planting of the\nBritish flag in Burma, as elsewhere, came some representatives of\nthe Established Church. They were not always very devoted men, but\nsome of them have been among the godliest servants of our Lord. They\nusually have ministered to the English-speaking people as chaplains of\ncivilians or of the military. As such they are found in every locality\nwhere Europeans or their descendants congregate. Had this considerable\nnumber of clergy always been spiritual men, their influence for good\nwould have been of incalculable value. Had the majority stood for\nevangelical truth, as a few have, had they been teetotalers in a\nland of dram-drinking, and had they spoken with moral and spiritual\nauthority against the licentiousness of many, they would have saved the\npeople and themselves, and won an unfading crown and the favor of all\nwho love righteousness. Some have so lived. One such died in Rangoon a\nfew years ago, one of the most devoted and best loved ministers I have\never known.\n\nThese ministers of the Church of England have had the ears of the\npeople as none others could have had, by reason of their social and\nofficial standing. But because they have not always pursued their\ncalling with single-eyed devotion, others have been required to help\nthem save the neglected people.\n\nThe Church of England has not been primarily a missionary Church in\nBurma, though latterly it is doing a good deal of work directly for the\nnon-Christian peoples. Their greatest native work is among the Karens,\nwho came to them years ago chiefly by a secession from the Baptist\nmission. They have held most of these seceders, but have not gained\nrapidly from among the heathen Karens. It is among a people like this\nthat strict habits of life tell so much. The Karens as a race are much\ngiven to drunkenness. Most missionaries--all of the Baptists--are total\nabstainers and constant advocates of this most wholesome practice. But\nsome of the Church of England and Catholic missionaries are habitual\ndram-drinkers. The effect of this practice among the missionaries is\nvery bad in its effect on the native Church. It is not a pleasant thing\nto write of these defects, but this drink-habit is so common among\nEuropeans, and the example of men who assume the office of missionaries\ncounts for so much for good or bad with native Christians who have this\nvice to fight that the unwillingness of the missionaries to abstain\nfrom strong drink is most reprehensible. This fact is only a little\nless important among ministers to Europeans. I have yet to see the\nminister of any class whose influence for good is not dissipated by\ntaking the intoxicating cup under any circumstances.\n\nThe fact that any considerable number of clergymen in a mission-field\ndrink intoxicating liquor will surprise most people in America, where,\nif a clergyman tipples, he is at once under a social ban. But it is a\npleasure to write that the reprehensible practice is growing less in\nthe entire East. The Churches and ministry which make total abstinence\nan unyielding rule would be needed in this mission-field for their\ntestimony and practice of total abstinence, if for no other reason.\nWe dare not gather a native Church and leave them under the curse\nof drink. We dare not keep silent and by our practice encourage the\ndrink-habit among Europeans and their descendants. The minister or\nmissionary who has the temerity to do it takes great responsibility for\nwrecked lives of those who follow his practice. It would seem to be\nas clear as sunlight that, knowing the evil of the drink-habit in the\nEast, as they do, all ministers and missionaries would stand unitedly\nand unwaveringly for total abstinence.\n\nThe Catholics, Baptists, and Church of England have been operating in\nBurma through the greater part of the century that has just closed.\nBut the Methodist Episcopal mission and the Wesleyans came upon the\nscene much later. Of the Methodist Episcopal missions I have written\nelsewhere. It is only necessary to indicate here that, in the language\nof Bishop Thoburn, \u201cour work in Burma was thrust upon us rather than\nsought by us.\u201d It was taken up as a far-away outpost of our beginnings\nin Calcutta. It has since become one of the important smaller missions\nestablished in all strategic centers from Karachi to the Philippine\nIslands. Our organization in Rangoon dates from 1879. We have only\nfairly gotten our footing, and hope soon to move forward with a good\ndegree of momentum. A detailed account of the mission is found in\nfollowing chapters.\n\nThe Wesleyans began their work in Burma in 1886, just after the\nannexation of Upper Burma. They made the great city of Mandalay their\nchief center of labor, and they have occupied important towns on the\nIrrawaddy River, the Chindwin, and on the railway. Their location\nwas wisely selected, and their advance has been made with equal good\njudgment.\n\nThey wisely selected the Burmese people as their objective from the\nfirst, and excepting their first superintendent, they have made the\nmastering of the language the first duty of every new missionary. In\nthis they have been exceedingly clearsighted. While the mission has\nnot been large in numbers, it has maintained a good working force,\nand had latterly sent forward re-enforcements. They maintain nine or\nten missionaries, men and women, who are in the full vigor of their\nearlier manhood and womanhood, and they are steadily gathering a native\nChurch. Meantime, they have added English work and taken up the lepers,\nmentioned elsewhere, as a specialty. They have the vigor and hope of a\nhealthful young mission.\n\nThere are two other special features of their mission worthy of note.\nThey have strongly-fortified themselves with Christian schools, one of\nthe most potent agencies for breaking down Buddhism. Buddhist schools\nmust be met by Christian schools.\n\nThen, they require five years\u2019 service from every young man entering\ntheir mission before they allow him to marry. This gives a period of\nprobation at small outlay of money, and insures that the young man\nwill acquire the language and be safely proven worthy and suited to\nhis calling before the mission becomes responsible for his family.\nIt has one disadvantage. When the young missionary does marry, his\nwife is a novice in the land, wholly unacquainted with the people and\ntheir language, and can hardly hope to become her husband\u2019s helpmate,\nas she could have done if they had entered upon their missionary life\ntogether. Yet, on the whole, it is a policy worthy of careful study and\nwider application.\n\nThis outline of missions in Burma leaves much more unwritten than it\nrecords. It is only intended to give a general survey of the forces\nthat are gathering which shall make the Burmese, the Shans, the Karens,\nthe Chins, and all the nations and tribes truly Christians. They all\naim at the speedy redemption of this stronghold of Buddhism with its\nattendant demonology.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nThe Methodist Episcopal Mission, Burma\n\n\nMethodism was established in Rangoon in 1879. Unlike any other mission\nknown to the writer, Methodism began its work in Burma, as in some\nother places in India, without any financial support or any community\nof Methodistic sentiment or tradition among the people to depend upon.\nIt is true that there are a few persons in Rangoon who had known of the\nwonderful work done in Calcutta under Dr. Thoburn, and had repeatedly\ninvited him to come to Rangoon to preach. William Taylor had sent out\nMr. and Mrs. Carter from America to begin self-supporting work among\nthe English-speaking people in Rangoon. At this juncture, Dr. Thoburn\nwent over to Rangoon and laid the foundation of Methodism in that city.\nHe always remembers, with cordial appreciation, the kindness of the\nBaptist missionaries in receiving him and giving him the use of their\nchapel in which to preach until the size of the congregation required a\nlarger building. Then he went to the municipal hall where he arranged\nthe first Methodist society within two weeks of his first service.\n\nThe beginnings were very encouraging. Of all the English-speaking\nChurches which Methodism has organized in India, that at Rangoon was\nthe largest in numbers and most diverse in its membership at the\nbeginning. Some of these original members remained with us for nearly a\nscore of years. Some of them proved their loyalty and faithful service\nthrough long years and under all changes.\n\nThe self-support of this Church has been somewhat remarkable. The\nGovernment gave the site for the church and parsonage, and the first\nyear a plain, wooden church edifice was erected, and also a parsonage\nby its side. Mr. Carter was succeeded by Mr. Robinson as pastor. Under\nthis pastorate all that had been done previously was conserved and new\nundertakings were begun. The church and parsonage buildings were paid\nfor and the Church taught Methodist usages. Considering that very few\nof the members, if any, had any previous knowledge of the doctrines,\nthis instruction was most necessary.\n\nFrom the very first until the present, a period of twenty-one years,\nthe Church has supported its pastor with a modest salary. If part of\nthat time there has been a supplemental amount paid by the Missionary\nSociety, this has always been more than offset by the real missionary\nwork done by the pastorate. Much of the time the pastor has been\npresiding elder of the district, and always he has had more than his\npastorate to care for.\n\nRev. Mr. Robinson, aided by his devoted wife, had four years of labor\nin care of the Church and the affairs of the mission. During this\nbusy period he began a girls\u2019 school for the English-speaking children\nand also a mission to seamen. These two institutions were begun in a\nmodest way as works of faith and without buildings or funds for running\nexpenses. They were both launched to meet a great need. Here again the\nliberality of the congregation and the community of Rangoon friendly to\nan active evangelism was exemplified in the contributions to support\nboth of these institutions. Here, as in the case of the church, the\nGovernment was generous in its aid of the school. It was at this time\nthe Government was extending its newly-organized educational department\nand felt generous in its plans for schools already organized. A very\ndesirable piece of land was given the mission to be used for our girls\u2019\nschool. But a building was to be erected, and our people had no funds.\nAt that time the thought of receiving mission money from America was\nnot entertained by any. After giving the land, the Government gave over\nhalf the cost of the first school building, and the people of Rangoon\nand vicinity gave the remainder of the required funds. This has been\nthe order almost throughout our experience as a mission. Support of all\nEnglish branches of our work has been secured almost entirely in Burma.\n\nIt was impossible for a single missionary family to do all the work\nrequired. The first re-enforcement sent to this field was Miss Warner,\nwho did enduring work in successfully superintending this school in\nits infancy. Afterward she moved to another part of India, having\nbeen married to Rev. D.\u00a0O. Fox, with whom she continues in effective\nmissionary service.\n\n[Illustration: METHODIST GIRLS\u2019 SCHOOL, RANGOON]\n\nAfter four years of service in Rangoon, Rev. S.\u00a0P. Long came to aid Mr.\nRobinson, and took work among the seamen, and assisted Mr. Robinson\nin his increasing labors. The \u201cSeamen\u2019s Rest\u201d became a resort for\nmany officers and sailors, and in all its years no seafaring man ever\nreceived aught but good in this institution. No class of men so much\nneed wholesome surroundings in a seaport. It will surprise American\nreaders to know that many of the Sailors\u2019 Homes and like institutions,\nmaintained often at Government expense in these Asiatic ports, sell\nliquors to the sailors who seek shelter within their walls. Thus the\nsailors meet one of their worst enemies in the house of their professed\nfriends. The Seamen\u2019s Rest has sheltered and protected sailors through\nall these years. So well did it do its work that, even to this day, men\nwho found Christ in the services maintained in the Rest and on board\nships years ago, return to tell us of the glad experience of those\ndays. So well is the work done that the Government for years past has\ngiven money to pay the rent, and, sometimes, additional aid. More hard\nwork without adequate remuneration has been done by the superintendents\nand managers of this seamen\u2019s institution during its nearly eighteen\nyears of good service, than in any other institution I have ever known\nin any land. It has secured these workers almost always from the\nmembership of the English Church. The mission to seamen should be\nregarded as a part of the Church\u2019s activity. It is such work as this,\nin ways too numerous to record, that this congregation has fostered,\nthat led Bishop Thoburn to write, some years ago, \u201cThe Rangoon\ncongregation is the best working Church I have known in any land.\u201d\n\nIn 1886, Mr. Robinson, after six years of most useful labor in\nRangoon, transferred to India, and Mr. Long took charge of the Church\nin addition to his other duties. For nearly four years he met the\nrequirements of his position in the strength of Christian manliness.\nOne event of signal importance occurred during his incumbency. A\ncourageous young woman came out from America and became his wife. She\nwas a companion to her husband in all his arduous labors. But early in\n1890, Mrs. Long\u2019s health having broken down under conditions of living\nalready developed, which prostrated the writer and his wife two years\nlater, they were compelled to return to America, leaving the results\nof a memorable service in Burma. Mrs. Long\u2019s health never being fully\nregained, they could not return to Burma. But it is a joy to all\ntheir friends to know that they have been signally successful in the\npastorate at home.\n\nThe girls\u2019 school prospered during this period also, under the care\nof Miss Julia E. Wisner, who succeeded to the principalship at the\nmarriage of Miss Warner. She was aided by Miss Files, who came\nlater, when it became evident that one woman could not endure the\nmultiplied burdens of such a school. These ladies, as also Miss Warner,\nwere sent to Burma by the Woman\u2019s Foreign Missionary Society, which has\ndone so much to aid all the missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church.\n\n[Illustration: CHARLOTTE O\u2019NEAL INSTITUTE, RANGOON]\n\nEarly in the administration of Mr. Long it became evident that the\nschool must be divided. A number of orphans and destitute children\nhad been placed in our hands, and some of the patrons paying full\nfees objected to their children being placed on an equal basis with\n\u201corphans.\u201d There arose out of this protest, and out of the further fact\nthat the first building was much crowded, the necessity of securing\na second building. This was done while only thirteen hundred dollars\nout of its entire cost came from America. The remainder of the five\nthousand dollars required was secured by subscription in Rangoon.\nThis building was known as the \u201cOrphanage,\u201d under separate management\nfrom the school, except that all the children had the same class-room\nprivileges. During 1899, Miss Fannie Scott was sent out to take charge\nof the Orphanage. She continued most devotedly at her post until\nfailing health required her transfer to India, in September, 1891,\nwhere she has done faithful service since. Miss Perkins succeeded Miss\nScott in charge of the Orphanage.\n\nDuring the last year of Mr. Long\u2019s service in Burma, he was joined\nby Mr. Warner, who came to be his assistant. On the departure of Mr.\nLong, Rev. R.\u00a0C. Chancy was transferred to Burma, to be the head of the\nmission and pastor of the Church. But the year 1890 was to witness\nfrequent changes in the small band of workers. Miss Wisner, owing to\nfailing health, went on furlough with the Longs, while the management\nof the school fell to Miss Files. Mrs. Chancy was ill when they arrived\nin Rangoon, and the old parsonage was a most unfit place for a well\nperson to live, much less a sick mother with the care of a family.\nBut as it was the only residence in the mission, and the Missionary\nSociety had not then, nor has it yet, been able to help us in acquiring\nhouses for our missionaries, it could not be helped. Mr. Chancy pushed\nthe mission work vigorously; but he was compelled to leave Burma for\nAmerica for his wife\u2019s health at the end of six months. Even then he\nwas too late. He only reached the shores of California to see her slip\naway to the other world.\n\nMr. Warner took charge of the work as best he could, though it would\nhave been too much for a far more experienced man. He held the post\nuntil the arrival of the writer the last day of this year, as noted\nelsewhere. Mr. Warner\u2019s short administration was embarrassed by the\ndefection of a young woman to another mission, after she had been with\nus but a very few months, having been sent out to take up Burmese.\nSingular that he and his wife should follow in her footsteps soon after.\n\nWhen our party of three landed in Burma, we constituted the largest\nnumber of re-enforcements received from home by our mission at any one\ntime in its history. This fact shows that the mission has not been well\nsustained by the home Church.\n\nThe most important personal experiences of myself and family during\nthe first two and a half years have been given elsewhere. I only wish\nto emphasize a few facts learned in that pastorate of six years.\nThe Church was well attended during nearly all that time, and often\ncrowded. The congregation was such a collection of humanity as I\nbelieve can be found in few other places in the world. But the very\nvariety gave life to it, and inspiration to the preacher. Sailors and\nsoldiers, wanderers from every land, English, Irish, Scotch, German,\nScandinavian, Americans, were all in the audience at once with Burma\u2019s\nown score of differentiated humanity. Once, of nine penitents in one\nmeeting, six different nationalities were represented. As I look back\nnow, two classes have impressed me more than any others of my auditors.\nThe one class was the faithful ones of diverse racial descent who were\nregular in their attendance, and could be depended on for any and every\nservice the Church requires. They do not realize how valuable just\nthis kind of service is. In any land it takes first place in worthy\nChristian fidelity. It is far above social prestige, money, or even\nbright talent. But in Burma, when in the nature of the case there is so\nmuch instability among many, this fidelity becomes the very pillar of\nthe Church. Our Rangoon Church has some such as worthy and as faithful\nmen and women as any missionary pastor they have ever had.\n\nThe other class that impressed me was the Scotchmen, who have sat in\nthat congregation during those years. I had not personally had much\nacquaintance with the sons of this distinguished branch of our race\nbefore going to Burma. Some of the wisest counsels I have ever received\nwere from Scotchmen in Rangoon. Warm friendships that I cherish highly\ngrew out of this acquaintance. On land and sea I have some scores of\nScotch friends, made while in the pastorate of Rangoon. All these\nScotchmen could listen to a sermon and not grow weary, if there was\nanything in it to rebuke, instruct, or inspire. The Scotch are great\n\u201csermon tasters.\u201d To have had their sterling men in the congregation,\nin our home, to have traveled with them oft by sea, and to have\ncounseled with not a few about the riches of \u201cthe kingdom,\u201d makes very\nprecious memories of six busy years.\n\nFor nearly four years of the six that I served that Church, I had\nthe joy of witnessing frequent conversions at the regular services.\nThese Sunday evening congregations especially furnished our chief\nopportunity to arrest attention and lead men to God. Often weary and\npoorly prepared by stress of work during the week, yet to preach to\na crowded house of attentive hearers, and knowing that some of those\npresent in every such congregation had opportunity to enter a church\nbut seldom, and some who could attend such services avoided God\u2019s house\nexcept on occasions, lifted the preacher to efforts beyond what he\nwould ordinarily be capable of giving. This Church had among other good\nqualities the desire and expectation of seeing sinners converted, and\nrejoiced when God gave new-born souls to their care.\n\nTwo more facts of importance in the acquisition of property which\noccurred during my residence in Rangoon may be noted. The one is\nmentioned elsewhere as the purchase of residence property in the\ncantonments, where we purposed also to remove our boarding department\nof the Girls\u2019 School. The other was the enlargement and connection of\nthe school and orphanage buildings in the center of the town.\n\nMiss Wisner had returned from furlough and the school was prospering\nunder her care, as was the Orphanage under Miss Perkins. Both buildings\nwere too crowded for comfort, and provision for more room was urgent.\nJust at this time a man left two children on our hands, and advanced\npayment on them. On application to the Educational Department, we\nsecured from the Government an equal amount, and constructed an\naddition connecting these two buildings. This completed a general\narchitectural design, and gave us a good commodious row of buildings\nthat furnished us excellent accommodations for our large day-school.\n\nIt will be seen that in all these Rangoon enterprises we are much\nindebted to the Government and the Rangoon public for funds to plant\nthe Church, school, and Orphanage. The Government and the community\nare in turn much indebted to us for founding these same institutions\nand maintaining them. But all this work was done with only thirteen\nhundred dollars from America. The knowledge of these facts has been\nslowly understood in America. It has in some cases had exactly the\nopposite effect from what it should have had. Since we have been able\nto accomplish so much without much aid from America, it has been taken\nfor granted that we needed no mission money. The result has been that\nfor twenty-one years we have received less money, in proportion to the\nwork done or the importance of the mission, than perhaps any other\nfield of any Church. It ought to be that most help should go to those\nwho do most for themselves; but the fact that we have done much to help\nourselves has until recently had exactly the opposite effect on the\npeople at home.\n\nDuring my pastorate in Rangoon I had many evidences of the advantageous\nlocation of our church. It is centrally placed and open to every\ngood cause, and so became a gathering place for the common religious\ninterests of Rangoon. This was markedly true of the temperance\ngatherings for a term of years. One gathering of this sort was\nespecially memorable. The Hon. Mr. Caine, the great English temperance\nadvocate, visited Burma, and he addressed a public meeting in the\ninterests of temperance. This meeting was held in the Methodist church,\nwhich was crowded, though it began at a late hour. Only one other\nEnglish church in Rangoon would have been open to a meeting like this.\nThe Church is Methodistic to the fullest degree, but forms a common\nrallying ground for the united Church interests.\n\nAt the end of 1896 I was succeeded in the pastorate by Rev. C.\u00a0T.\nErickson, who had, with his wife, just arrived from America for this\npastorate. The general work of superintending the district, together\nwith the pastorate, always was too much for one man, and yet I had been\nladen with that double task for six years. Mr. Erickson\u2019s coming was in\nanswer to my often repeated request, and gave me corresponding relief.\nHe took up the pastorate, and I had the opportunity to give attention\nto district interests. The people were as much relieved as myself, as\nthey wanted a pastor who could give his whole time to them. But in\na few months all our plans were disconcerted again by the return to\nAmerica of Mr. and Mrs. Erickson, on account of the latter\u2019s health.\nJust at that time we had some prospects of getting other recruits to\nour mission from America, so Mr. Schilling was called in from the\nBurmese work to supply the English Church for a few months, until Mr.\nand Mrs. Hill, our expected re-enforcements, arrived.\n\nOnce more we were in a difficulty about the principalship of the\nschool. Miss Wisner, who had been in failing health for some time,\nwas arranging to go home on a much-needed furlough, and Miss Keeler,\nwho had been teaching in the school for four or five years since her\narrival from America, being needed in her department as teacher,\nwe were in great perplexity to secure a principal for the school.\nConference was in session about this time at Calcutta, and after much\ndeliberation it was decided to do a very unusual thing. Mr. and\nMrs. Hill were nearing the shores of India. Mrs. Hill was appointed\nprincipal of the school. She had never been in India before, and\nhence could have had no experience in our school affairs, or Indian\nlife. But Mr. Hill had been brought up in India, and had had an\nintimate acquaintance with schools, and he could advise her in school\nmanagement. Mr. Hill took the pastorate of the English Church, and\nMrs. Hill conducted the school for nearly a year very satisfactorily.\nThe pastorate of Mr. Hill was also successful from the first, and has\ncontinued until the present.\n\nToward the end of 1888 the mission was re-enforced by Miss Turrell, who\ncame out from England to take the principalship of the school. She is\nan experienced educator, and enjoys the distinction of being the first\nmissionary among us who has gone forth at her own charges, donating her\nown passage money and services. In the great generosity on her part she\ndeserves the cordial thanks of our entire mission, and especially the\ngood women at home whose work she had done until the present time in\nthe place of one of their own missionaries. Early in 1899, Miss Files\nreturned from her furlough with Miss Charlotte Illingworth, one of\nour own Rangoon girls, who came back from college in America to take\nup work as a missionary in the land and school of her early training.\nMiss Keeler retired from missionary work and, after a visit to America,\nreturned and was married, and lives in Rangoon. After one year\u2019s\nservice in the school, Miss Files was transferred to India, and is\nteaching in the Wellesley Girls\u2019 School at Naini Tal.\n\nThis somewhat detailed record of the labors of our missionaries in\nRangoon and the institutions they have built up has been given, because\na connected setting forth of this work has never been made. A new\nmission as ours is often small, and the importance of the several\nmissionaries and their earlier work is not always appreciated until\nyears afterward, when perhaps the exact date can not be recalled. It is\nthe writer\u2019s purpose to make mention of all the missionaries married\nand single, who have been sent to Burma under the Missionary Societies\nof the Methodist Church during the first twenty-one years of our work\nthere. To do this it has been most convenient to give at the same time\nthe planting and growth of our English work in Rangoon, with which,\neither in Church, school, or Orphanage, all but a very few of our\nmissionaries have begun their labors. Those few exceptions will have\nmention in the two following chapters.\n\nThe fact that Methodism in Burma was founded on self-supporting English\nwork, and so continued for the most part still, has the advantage\nof that self-support long before the Missionary Society could have\ndone anything in the country, and of holding the position for later\ndevelopments, and also in securing properties from the Government for\nchurch and schools at a time when such grants could be obtained. In all\nthese respects, as well as in initial evangelism among English-speaking\npeoples, our mission has done nobly, and has been cordially approved\nby all its friends. I am free to say that our people, as a whole,\ncould not have done more under the conditions under which they have\nworked. More than that, if we could not have entered the field as we\ndid and worked as we have, there would have been no representatives of\nAmerican Methodism in Burma to this day. Hundreds of people who have\nbeen converted, and thousands who have been uplifted by our preaching\nand teaching, would have been the poorer by so much as our Church and\nschool have brought them. Many poor and destitute whom we have clad and\nfed and taught would have missed the protection and shelter we gave\nthem. Many strangers who have found friends in times of temptation\nin a strange and wicked city, would have missed such friends. Earth\nand heaven are richer for this score of years of faithful work of our\nlittle mission.\n\nBut this plan of founding a mission has its serious disadvantages,\nwhich are now being realized. The foreign missions must have the\nChristless peoples leaning on false faith as their great objective.\nTo reach this goal quickly and work it permanently, it is of vital\nimportance to master the language of the people among whom you work.\nHappy is the missionary who has been able to devote his greatest\nefforts to this end during the first year of his life in his chosen\nfield. He should lay a foundation in this period on which a mastery\nof the language is easily possible. To do this he must be freed from\nother labors and all great responsibilities for the welfare of the\nmission. This opportunity has been lost to all our missionaries who\nhave been plunged into the English first. The responsibilities in\nevery post are extremely exacting. The climate exacts its tribute of\nstrength, and when the large measure of exhausting labor in the school\nor varied pastoral duties has been met, there is neither time nor\nstrength to apply on a language. So it comes to pass that every such\nmissionary finds himself at a loss as the years move around, and he\nfinds he can not preach to the people in their own tongue. The time has\ncome when we must give the new missionaries a chance at the language as\ntheir first and most important undertaking.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nPreaching in Four Asiatic Languages\n\n\nIn other chapters are given the facts concerning the beginnings and\ndevelopment of the English work in Rangoon. The beginning among\nthe natives is of equal interest to the inquirer after missionary\ninformation. When a mission without resources begins operations in a\nforeign country, it may be supposed that it would be very modest in\nits undertaking. But in the case of Methodism in Burma, and some other\nparts of Southern Asia as well, rightly or wrongly, it has pursued\nexactly the opposite course. With a mere handful of workers, including\nmissionaries and their helpers, our people have from the beginning\nundertaken about every kind of mission work possible. Within two\nweeks from the time Bishop Thoburn landed in Rangoon he had organized\nan English Church of seventy members and probationers, and from the\nmembership thus brought together there were volunteer workers raised\nup to preach among peoples of three different native languages. As the\nstreets were always thronged with these people, it was always easy to\nget a congregation. This hopeful beginning was in perfect keeping with\nthe theory of missions long in vogue in a large portion of India--that\nfrom these self-supporting English Churches there would be raised up\nthe workers who would evangelize the heathen peoples around them.\nWilliam Taylor was the great apostle of this policy, and most of the\nMethodist missions not included in the North India Conference were\nfounded on this theory by him and those that caught his spirit.\n\nThis theory has fatal defects we now know, but it was believed and\nput to the test in the way indicated; and while it did not succeed\nin accomplishing all that it was hoped at the beginning, it did\naccomplish more than any other theory of missions has done in the\nsame time in proportion to the number of missionaries employed, while\nits expenditure of mission money for years was almost nothing. This\nmovement carried Methodism into every city in Southern Asia that had a\nconsiderable English-speaking population. It gave us English Churches\nin all these centers. Our methods aroused other missions to do more\nfor these people than they had ever done before. More than this, it\ncommitted us to general mission work over this area, and that with no\noutlay of mission money until safe foundations were laid in all the\ncenters occupied.\n\nMoved by this impulse and flushed with the warmth of a great revival,\nthese laymen in Rangoon began to preach in Tamil, Telegu, and\nHindustani. It will be noticed that all these are languages of India\nproper, indicating that these English-speaking laymen had themselves\ncome from India, and so were familiar with the languages of the native\nimmigrants to Burma. But most of our English-speaking laymen were from\nMadras or the Telegu country, so that the preaching in Tamil and Telegu\nwere continued; but for a long time we were unable to keep a layman\ninterested who could preach in Hindustani, and it was discontinued,\nexcept at irregular intervals.\n\nThere were converts from among the heathen Tamil and Telegu people from\nthe start. They were baptized, and later on some Church organizations\nwere formed and some schools kept for the children of these people.\nPreaching was kept up in the English Church and at half a dozen other\nplaces in Rangoon; in Dalla, across the Rangoon River from Rangoon,\namong the coolies in the mills, and in the jungle villages, and in\nToiurgoo, and later in Pegu on the railway. The Tamils and the Telegus\nwere generally found together, and we could sometimes get a layman\nwho could preach in both languages, though generally we had to engage\ndifferent preachers.\n\nAs time went on we learned several important facts about these people\nand this work that we did not know at first. We very soon discovered\nthat we lost heavily among our converts by these immigrants returning\nto their own land, and that our people were not so distributed in India\nthat they could care for them in their native land on their return.\nBut this continual loss made it out of the question to hope for much\npermanency in this kind of work. Another weakness was that the men did\nnot bring their families with them. And while we got the men converted,\nthey were still connected with heathen relatives in India to whom they\nwould return. But the immediate weakness was in the fact that there\nwere few women and children to complete the Christian families and\nChristian communities. So family life, school, and Sunday-school work\nwas not possible.\n\nAs the work extended somewhat, we were met by the fact that we must\ndepend on paid agents, and could not hope to go beyond a very narrow\nlimit by unpaid volunteer preaching and subpastoral care. Applicants\nfor such places were not wanting. Many of these men in course of years\napplied, and in turn were found, with few exceptions, wholly unfit for\npermanent responsibility. In the case of the Tamils especially, this\nwas true. The breakdown of this class of mission employees was nearly\ncomplete. This was due to two causes. The one seems to be in the Tamil\nrace itself. They do seem to lack the element of reliability generally\nin everything that has not the highest monetary value attainable as its\ngoal. It is astonishing how many of these employees failed us at this\npoint. There was the further difficulty, in that we had to employ the\nmen who drifted into Burma as the dislodged members of other missions\nin India, who were either unwilling to accept the regulations of their\nown missions, or were not of its better material. We seldom employed a\nman without certificate of character, and we imported some agents under\nspecial recommendation; but our experience with them was generally\nunsatisfactory for the highest interest of the mission. But I am happy\nto record that some were very true and reliable.\n\nBut the greatest weakness was on our part, in being unable to give the\nmissionary supervision necessary to insure the highest success. We\nhave never been strong enough to give a missionary to this work among\nimmigrants to Burma. Without this close missionary supervision, we can\nnot hope to succeed largely. Then we did not have the money to extend\nthe work largely so as to acquire the momentum, and that would place\nat our disposal enough candidates to enable us to sift them and employ\nonly the most worthy. But a great deal of good has been done with a\nvery little outlay of money, and this work will be continued, though\nonly incidental to the larger mission plans. We must make the Burmese\npeople our real objective.\n\nFor reasons already given, we have been slow in taking up work among\nthe Burmese people. These reasons were in brief, too few missionaries\nto spare even one man or woman to make the beginning, and for years\nno missionary appropriation at all was made to Burma. When a little\nmoney was given us, we made the best use of it. But we did baptize\nBurmese before we had any missionary appropriations or missionary to\nthese people. Some inquirers from several miles out on the Pegu River\ncame into Rangoon, and sought out our missionaries. Bishop Thoburn\nbeing in Rangoon at the time, a boat was secured and a party made up\nto visit the village and investigate this new opening. The village\nwas found, and the bishop preached, with a young Eurasian girl as his\ninterpreter. The interest created was considerable, and before the\nday was over several candidates were baptized. The initial step could\nnot be followed up as we could wish, but two years later I arrived in\nBurma, and after some months was able to visit this village and the\nsurrounding country. It was a great joy to find some of these converts\nstill true to all they knew of the gospel. One of them could read the\nBible, and he had a copy of the good Book and some good tracts. Later\non in this region, but a little further from Rangoon, we had our first\nconsiderable awakening among the people.\n\nIn Rangoon we had one Burmese boys\u2019 school, which for two or three\nyears gave promise of much usefulness. These boys came from the\ncountry and city, and were bright young lads from nine to fifteen\nyears of age. They were instructed in the secular studies, and at the\nsame time taught the Bible. A Sunday-school was kept up also. If this\nschool could have been well cared for under a missionary who knew the\nlanguage, it could have become largely useful and permanent. It finally\nwas broken up by the Burmese teacher going wrong. But if a trained\nmissionary had been in charge, another teacher could have been employed\nand the school sustained. During the continuance of this school there\nwere a number of boys baptized in the school, and that with their\nrelatives\u2019 knowledge, and there was no special opposition to it.\nBishop Thoburn was much impressed with this fact, as such an occurrence\nin one of the schools in India among the Hindu or Mohammedan boys would\nhave broken up the school. In all the schools we have had, mostly in\nlarge villages in the district, the same accessibility to the young\nBurman has been found.\n\nAmong the missions which have become strong enough to found a good\nschool or system of schools, they find not only that the Burmese are\nready to send their boys and pay the fees according to the Government\nschool code, but that these same schools are the best missionary\nagencies, both for the conversion of the Burmese and the Christian\ntraining of prospective preachers and teachers. For the latter, years\nunder immediate Christian training are indispensable. As Buddhism\nis founded on a system of monastic schools, where the boys are\nindoctrinated in the teachings of that faith, it would seem that any\npolicy which looks to the overthrow of Buddhism should contemplate\nreplacing these Buddhist schools with Christian schools. And when we\nfind the Buddhists themselves seeking education in Christian schools,\nand willing to pay good fees for the privilege, the prospect for the\nChristian schools becoming the greatest auxiliary of evangelism is very\nencouraging. It is my conviction that no nonchristian country in the\nworld presents the prospect of extensive usefulness of the Christian\nsystem equal to Burma.\n\nSo eager were we to begin mission work among the Burmese, that we\ntook up with whatever opening presented itself. So sure were we that\nwe would not get the ear of the home Church, and so get the necessary\nfunds really to establish the Burmese mission work, that we were ready\nto accept whatever the field offered that promised to give us access to\nthe Burmese people.\n\nOur first opportunity was thrust upon us. We embraced it with perhaps\ntoo much eagerness. But this is a question raised in the light of\nsubsequent experience which no man could foresee. In the early part of\n1893, I received a message from the deputy commissioner of the Pegu\nDistrict, saying that he was opening a large tract of newly-drained\nrice land to settlement and cultivation in his district, and if I\nwould start a colony of Burmese cultivators on it, he would put at the\ndisposal of the mission from two to three thousand acres of land. This\nwas a very singular proposition, as I had never seen that official but\nonce, and had never been in that part of his district, and had not\nplanned such an undertaking. I went up and made a hurried investigation\nof the region, and found it a part of a large plain that for a short\ntime each year had too much water for even rice cultivation, which\ngrows in water often a foot deep. The Government felt certain its new\ndrainage canals, dug at considerable expense, would drain this plain.\nAnd as its soil was the most fertile possible, and covered with a\nlight grass, which would easily yield to the ordinary native plow, it\nseemed desirable to co-operate with the district officials, and take\nup a large section of the land. The deputy commissioner offered to\nput at our disposal three thousand acres of land, for which we were to\nhave a title as soon as we put it under cultivation. Having no mission\nmoney of any account to go on in the conventional method of founding a\nmission, it does not at all seem to be wondered at that this inviting\noffer of land was looked upon as a providential way of founding an\nindustrial mission.\n\nJust at this time, in a thickly-populated part of the district, some\nforty miles away, a company of twenty-eight Burmans, whom I had not\nseen before, sought me out, and asked me to help them get some land.\nTaken with the offer of the land by the district officer, it seemed a\nrare opportunity to get forward with our mission.\n\nThe season being far advanced, it was imperatively necessary to act\nquickly because these Burmans had to make their arrangements for\nthe year, and the opportunity to get this land or any other so well\nsituated we thought would never come again. This combination of urgent\nfeatures led us to take the land and make the venture at once.\n\nThere was a great deal of planning to launch such a scheme. We did not\nwant to be involved financially. We did want to lay a good foundation\nof evangelism and to establish schools. The plan finally adopted was\nthat we were to aid the Burmans in their dealings with the Government,\nand in selling their rice. We were to furnish schools for their\nchildren and to preach to them. But we were not to become financially\ninvolved, either for the running expenses of the colony, or for the\ntax due the Government. The plan was one of mutual helpfulness. To this\nplan all parties cheerfully agreed.\n\nIt was nearly time for the rains to begin when the papers were secured\nallowing us to move upon the land. Meantime a good many of the people\nwho would have gone with us a month earlier dropped out during the\ndelay in getting the land. But we succeeded in gathering one hundred\nand twenty people, and moved on to the land about the first of May. We\nstill had time to build a village out of the bamboo poles and thatch,\nout of which these cultivators\u2019 houses are always made. This was rather\na hopeful beginning, and we had assurance of twice as many people to\nfollow.\n\nJust at this time we met with an example of the careless disregard of a\nfinancial obligation often found in the Burman. His cool indifference\nto a promise, however well secured, is frequently refreshing in its\naudacity. The Burmans were to furnish all the cattle to work the land.\nWe were to lay out no money whatever on the business features of the\ncolony. Four head men of the colony had been recognized by the deputy\ncommissioner. They had pledged _two hundred cattle_ security for the\ntax due on the land. Their cattle would have been entirely sufficient\nto cultivate at least a thousand acres the first year. But when the\nhouses were built and the colony began business, it became clear that\nonly a small number of these cattle were really in the hands of the\ncolonists. Their explanation was that many of the men having most\ncattle dropped out, as the uncertainties of getting the land for the\ncrop remained over the venture. This we learned later was true in part.\nMore of them had dropped out because they did not want to put in all\ntheir cattle, while some of the colonists had none, or only a few, and\nthey were heavily mortgaged.\n\nBut these men had pledged to the Government, officially, cattle which\nthey did not possess. In this they deceived us, a not very difficult\nmatter, as we were new to the country and unacquainted with the\ncharacteristics of the Burmese people. But if we were deceived, the\ndeputy commissioner had more reason to regret having been duped, as he\nwas an officer in the province for many years, and supposed he knew\nthe Burman. He also drew up the revenue bond which they signed. He\nindeed planned and extended this bond, entirely apart from the revenue\nregulations, I believe. Therefore, when we reproached ourselves in not\nbeing as farsighted as we should have been, we still could shield our\nhumiliation behind the much greater defeat of the pet measure of this\nofficial.\n\nIf we had been willing simply to save the mission from all financial\nobligations, and retreat from the enterprise without any dishonor, we\ncould have done so when we learned that these Burmans were unable to\ncarry out their part of the contract. But it would have been equivalent\nto the utter collapse of the enterprise. While we were in no way\nfinancially obligated to meet what they had failed to meet under our\ngeneral agreement, yet in my mind I have never been convinced that it\nwould have been the wisest thing to do, even if we could have foreseen\nthe final outcome, which we did not at that time even suspect. Then\nevery honorable man must give his character to the enterprise he\nlaunches.\n\nOur second surprise came only a few weeks later. I had secured money\noutside of mission funds, for we had none of the latter, and bought\nsufficient cattle for the colony. This was beyond all our agreement.\nThe men began work well enough, and soon had a promising beginning of\ncultivation. As the young rice began to show in the fields, the water\nwhich had been slowly rising over the plain during the increasing rains\nsuddenly covered all the fields to a dangerous depth. A foot of extra\nwater will not hurt much if it goes down within two or three days.\nBut this flooding of our land covered a score of square miles of the\ncountry. Then it slowly dawned on us that the Government engineers\u2019\ndrainage system was a failure, and with it our colony was doomed. We\nhad depended upon the work of the engineers, and their canals could\nnot carry off the water, and we were the sufferers. The colony slowly\nmelted away while the water remained.\n\nLet it be noted that though the Burmans failed us, and some of our\nacutely sympathetic friends have assured us all these years that this\nfailure of the Burmese character was inevitable, yet it was the failure\nof the work of the Government engineers that destroyed our colony. The\nBurmans were at work until the floods came, and they remained weeks\nafter all ordinary hope of making a crop was gone; while the failure\nof the drainage scheme developed early, and the whole plain remained\nflooded for six years until supplementary canals were dug. If we failed\nby overconfidence in the adroit Burman, we failed with double effect\nwhen we trusted to the skill of the Government engineers.\n\nA very unpleasant incident occurred about the time the colony was\ndrowned out. The deputy commissioner, who had gone out of his way to\ninduce us officially to enter upon this colony scheme, turned against\nus in a very unaccountable way. He misrepresented our undertaking\nto his superiors. He accused us of exacting oppressive terms of the\nBurmans, when the exact opposite was true. We had gone far beyond\nall our agreement with them, and gave them better terms than any\nother people ever gave to any cultivator in Burma. In the end it\nwas easy enough to show wherein this unwise official was wholly in\nerror. But it was not until his official opposition had wrought its\nwork on scattering the colony, and had made success in recognition\nimpossible. This episode is an unpleasant matter to record. I would\nomit it entirely if it did not bear a vital relation to the defeat\nof a missionary enterprise. But I am glad to be able to say that\nhe is the only official of British blood who ever gave our mission\nor missionaries in Burma during my experience there any annoyance\nor ungenerous treatment in a business way. The officials have\nbeen courteous gentlemen always, and I have been much in business\ntransactions with all classes of them for a decade. Our missionaries\nof long experience in other parts of the empire have been delighted in\nmaking much the same report.\n\nWhile the colony was broken up and scattered in a way that forebade\nus to hope for any good to result from our undertaking, it was not\nreally so bad as we believed at the time. We had not baptized any of\nthe colonists, though a number of them had indicated that they wished\nbaptism in the early beginnings of the colony. When they scattered\nabroad in the country doubtless they made reports very discouraging.\nBut we have much reason to know that there came to be quite a general\nfeeling that we had sought the good of the people. There have been many\nevidences of this, but that which is clearest proof, is that every year\nsince Burmans in the same neighborhood have urged us to undertake some\nsuch enterprise again. But there were other evidences.\n\nThe colony was begun in April, 1893, and was abandoned entirely by the\nend of the year. Just at this time Rev. G.\u00a0J. Schilling and wife came\nto us to take up the Burmese work. I had been the only man among our\nsmall band of missionaries for nearly three years. My assistants were\nsupplies picked up in the country. I got very weary often with the heat\nand much work. But I was often worn greatly for lack of counsel in the\nresponsibilities of the mission. There have always been some of the\ntruest friends among the laymen in Rangoon, but naturally they can not\ntake the responsible care of the mission. The coming of Mr. and Mrs.\nSchilling was a great joy to me and all our lady missionaries.\n\nA little incident occurred the second day after the arrival of our\nfriends, which shows the playful side of missionary life. They arrived\nin the afternoon, and early next morning I took Mr. Schilling with me a\nday\u2019s journey by steam launch through one of Lower Burma\u2019s many tidal\ncreeks to a village where we had some Christians. We were so busy we\ndid not allow the new missionary even a day to look around the city\nof Rangoon, but hurried him immediately into the district. I had the\njourney planned, and could not delay the trip for pressure of work in\nthe city.\n\nAt six o\u2019clock in the evening we arrived at the village of Thongwa, a\nplace of five thousand people. After some three hours\u2019 looking about\nthe town we were tired, and as always in Burma when taking exercise,\nvery much heated. I proposed a swim in the river to cool us down so\nwe could sleep. Mr. Schilling, being a strong swimmer, plunged out\ninto the stream, and did not pause till he reached the opposite side\nof the river. I, being a very moderate swimmer, remained near the\nshore. But I was impressed with the dark river lined with palm-trees\non a moonless night, with no light except from the stars and a faint\nglimmer from the lamps of the village. I wondered at the temerity of\nmy fellow-missionary on this, his first night in a tropical country!\nPerhaps I was not wholly innocent in the practical joke I attempted.\nJust as I heard a splash on the opposite side of the stream I called\nout, \u201cBrother Schilling, I forgot to tell you that there are alligators\nin this river.\u201d There was a splash, a plunge, and heavy breathing of a\nswimmer exerting all his power in the haste to recross the stream. I\nwas amused at the effect of this bit of information on the missionary\nrecruit. But his amusement arrived only as an afterthought. His first\nefforts were all spent in getting to my side of the river. He reasoned,\n\u201cIn haste there is safety.\u201d When he recovered his breath he told me\nthat just as I shouted \u201calligator\u201d he had stepped on some slippery\nmember of the tribe that lives in the muddy ooze of all tropical\ntidal creeks, and to his imagination the word \u201calligator\u201d made that\nsquirming creature a very real menace to his personal safety. There\nwere alligators in the stream, but they were several miles further down\nand, as far as I knew, quite harmless.\n\nAnother experience which befell some of us some months before this had\nfeatures about it too grim for humor, but which may be recorded to show\nthe reality of life in a tropical land. Shortly after the colony was\nflooded, I made one of my visits to the people. Several times I had to\ntravel in a small boat, a dug-out log. To return to Rangoon I took to\nthe stream after nightfall, and traveled within a mile or two of the\nrailway, and then, the current of the stream becoming too swift for\nthe oarsman, we took to the water, and waded against the current until\nwe reached the station. The particular occurrence occurred when the\nwater was at its highest over an area many miles. The occasion of my\nmaking these journeys at night was that I could catch a train bringing\nme to Rangoon in the morning for my many duties there. As the whole\ncountry was flooded, we undertook to guide our boat thirteen miles from\nthe colony to the railway all over an overflowed, treeless plain. Our\nparty consisted of a young Swiss I had in charge of the colony, a Malay\nservant of the Swiss, who acted as steersman, and a Telegu, a very lazy\nman, who would not row, and so got a free ride, grudgingly allowed\nby myself. The Swiss and I had to do all the rowing, no easy task\nthrough the protruding elephant grass, which rose several feet above\nthe water in some places. In addition, I undertook to pilot the boat,\nthe open hollow-log canoe, always difficult to keep bottom downward.\nWithout any object to serve as a guide, my own sense of locality, as\nwe had no compass, being my only resource, the downpour of rain every\nhalf-hour--all made a combination of circumstances calculated to fill\nus with doubts as to our success in reaching the railway at all, while\nthe dark hours of the night passed slowly on. We had no light with\nus, and at times it was exceedingly dark; but the moon showed its\nhalf-filled face occasionally. Late in the night we came near to some\nabandoned grass hut. As an unusually heavy storm was approaching,\nrevealed to us by the beating of the rain on the quiet water of the\nplain, we concluded to steer our unstable craft in through the open\ndoorway of the hut. There were several feet of water in the hut and on\nthe adjacent fields. As the hut was large enough to accommodate our\nboat and the roof was intact, we hoped to have shelter until the rain\nhad passed.\n\nWe had our misgivings, because we feared the snakes, driven from the\ngrass of the plain by the water, would be finding quarters in the\nhouse. This proved to be a very true surmise. We had just got into\nthe house, when our free passenger, the Telegu, took out his matchbox\nand a cigar and prepared to smoke. I thought I could use that match\nto better advantage, and demanded it. As the match flashed and then\nburned steadily for a moment, we searched the thatch sides and roof\nand bamboo supports for snakes. We were not disappointed. Here and\nthere were the glistening coils of snakes tucked away; but our greatest\nnervous shock came on looking immediately over our heads, when we were\nstartled to see a very large snake coiled on top of the rafter, while\nthe glistening scales of his whitish belly were only two or three feet\nabove some of our heads. We immediately prepared to leave this place\nin possession of its venomous occupants. Softly we moved lest we shake\nsnakes into our boat. The Swiss was very eager to avoid colliding with\na post and shaking a snake into the boat, especially as we were all\nbarefooted, having removed our shoes.\n\nWe took to the storm again, the worst of that weary wet night, thankful\nto have escaped keeping company with the snakes. About one o\u2019clock at\nnight we found the railroad, and rested until the train came. I look\nback on that night\u2019s experience with vivid recollections. The long\npiloting of the boat without guide of any kind for thirteen miles, and\nthen to have made our exact destination, was no ordinary achievement,\nof which I have always had some pride. The experience with the snakes\nin the abandoned house seen by the flash of a match makes a memory too\nvivid to avoid an inward squirming to this day. These disconnected\nexperiences are given to break the monotony of prosaic account of\nmission work, and to indicate to the reader that there are realities in\njourneyings about the inhabited parts of a tropical country calculated\nto impress the memory.\n\nMr. Schilling\u2019s coming to us was very timely. He began Burmese very\nsoon, in which Mr. Robertson joined him. We at once planned to open a\nstation for a missionary outside of Rangoon. We selected Pegu, a town\non the railway fifty-six miles from the capital city, and on the road\nto Mandalay. We chose this town because it was the nearest station to\nour broken-up colony, from which also we could work another region\nwhich had been given to the people for the colony, and from whence\nwe could reach half a hundred villages of Burmans unsought by any\nmissionary. We needed a town, also, where we could have a physician\nfor the missionary\u2019s family. A place was desired where land and\nmissionary buildings could be secured economically.\n\n[Illustration: LARGE IMAGE AT PEGU]\n\nMr. Schilling was supported by the vigorous missionary Church of\nMontclair, New Jersey. They paid his passage and his salary, and for\nthe mission house. So prompt was their response and so generous, that\nthe mission was very greatly uplifted. Mr. Robertson lived with Mr.\nSchilling, and they both made rapid progress in learning the language.\nIn a few months inquirers began to be found. Some lapsed Christians\nwere picked up, and they tried to work them into some Christian\nusefulness. Before the end of the year they were beginning to preach in\nthe vernacular. Altogether our prospect of doing mission work among the\nBurmese was becoming promising, and we were all filled with cheer.\n\nWithin a little more than a year each of these brethren was doing\naggressive evangelistic work. Mr. Schilling remained at Pegu, and\ntraveled somewhat widely in the regions east and north. Mr. Robertson\nwas given the district south of Pegu and east of Rangoon. He lived at\nThongwa, the village where our Burmese work was first undertaken in a\nsystematic way. Mr. Robertson had married Miss Haskew, of Calcutta.\n\nMr. Schilling, at the suggestion of some of the Burmese who had been\nwith us in the colony enterprise, organized a new movement to build a\nvillage near the place where we had formerly located, but not subject\nto floods, into which the Christians and their families would move,\nseparating the Christian community and providing a school for their\nchildren. About one hundred and fifty people came to the village, and\na simple church was built and a school begun. Quite a number of these\npeople were with us in the original enterprise, and they and their\nfriends had had some Christian instruction. Mr. Schilling preached\nearnestly to the village, and baptized about thirty people in a few\nmonths\u2019 time. So we came to have a visible Christian community in the\nwake of our colony scheme, and that within two years of our first\nbeginning. If, as we are accustomed to say, we failed in the colony,\nstill but for the colony we would not have been in that region at all.\nIf we had not founded the colony, we would not have had a village.\nWe are encouraged this much, that though we failed in our unusual\ndeparture in this region for reasons stated, we had more to show at\nthe end of the two years from the failure than the most successful\nenterprise on the conventional mission lines that I know of in Burma\nhas had during an equal length of time at the beginning of their\nhistory. If we count the money invested, the same comparison holds good.\n\nThe village still exists, and though it has suffered many vicissitudes,\ndue in part to the nature of pioneer mission work, and partly to lack\nof continuous missionary direction, yet we have contact with the entire\ncommunity of that region, and within the last year and a half our\nmissionary in charge has baptized a number of converts in the village\nand community.\n\nBefore a year from the time he took up his residence in Thongwa, Mr.\nRobertson\u2019s health failed seriously, and he had to give up his labors\nand go to the hills of India. This was in 1896. At first we thought he\nwould soon be with us again; but this was not to be. He has been kept\nin India by the exigencies of his health at first, and latterly by the\nexigencies of the work. The Thongwa circuit has been supplied as best\nwe could do it to this day, and has never had continuous missionary\nresidence or supervision such as is needed. It has had only such\nattention as could be given it by men whose hands were more than full\nelsewhere.\n\nDuring 1896 two young men were sent out by individuals who wished to\ndo a generous thing for missions through a representative. Mr. Krull\narrived in April, and Mr. Swann came in October. Much was hoped from\nthis arrangement. The young men were religious, and faithful in their\nefforts. A mistake had been made in both cases, in that neither man was\neducated sufficiently to enable him to master a foreign tongue, or to\nmeet the responsibility of leadership. After a few months the supporter\nof Mr. Swann declined to pay the small salary he had agreed upon, and\nthe young man had to retire from the field, as he was not sent out by\nthe Mission Board. Mr. Krull continued as an auxiliary mission agent\nfor nearly five years, for which he contracted, and his friend loyally\nsupported him to the end. Then, he being convinced that he was not\nadapted to do the work of a missionary, returned and began secular\nwork. However, he still has responsibilities as a local preacher.\n\nThese young men were not qualified for the work for which they were\nchosen. In this they were not to blame, as they could not have\nunderstood the needs of a mission field. They were not selected by a\nMission Board. But the whole experience is added to like experience\nelsewhere in proof that the best way to aid missions is through regular\nchannels, or through men whose judgment has been proven in responsible\npositions.\n\nMr. Schilling\u2019s health was impaired during 1897, and early in 1898 he\nand his family returned to America. So within two years we lost two\nmissionary families from our ranks, greatly to the distress of those\nthat remained, and the detriment of the entire work. Our promising\nbeginnings among the Burmese suffered most.\n\nFor a year we awaited re-enforcements. Early in 1899, Rev. Mr. Leonard\nand wife were sent to us from India. Mr. Leonard at once moved into the\nmission-house at Pegu. Without delay he began the study of the Burmese\nlanguage, and as he had high linguistic ability, he acquired a working\nuse of the language. Before the end of the year he was preaching\nwithout an interpreter, and was doing some necessary translation.\n\nOne of the first steps towards putting the Burmese work on a better\nfoundation was the beginning of a school for the boys of our Burmese\nChristians. For years I had hoped to see this done. Pegu had been\nchosen for the residence of a missionary partly with this end in view,\nas it is accessible, is free from some of the evils of a great city\nlike Rangoon, and simple habits of life can be maintained more easily.\nThe last is most important. Expensive habits are so easily learned\nand so difficult to unlearn, that we can not be too careful about the\ntraining of the children of our Christian community.\n\nThis school was begun with about six boys, and soon grew to an\nattendance of twenty. Some of these paid full school fees. Their\ninstruction was the best. They were given regular lessons in secular\nsubjects and daily Bible instruction. Much of the latter was committed\nto memory. It would surprise some of our Sunday-schools and some of\nour Christian people to find how carefully the Bible is taught in\nmission schools. Mr. Leonard did most thorough work in this matter, and\nwe hope in this school to prepare for future service promising boys.\nThose who know what it means to work with the only material available\nin the beginning of a mission can appreciate our solicitude for enough\nproperly-trained workers. These preachers and teachers so much needed\nmust come from our own schools.\n\nMr. Leonard has been very successful in getting access to the Burmese.\nHe baptized more than one hundred converts from Buddhism during 1900.\nThis shows how accessible the Burmese people are. If it were true that\nthe Burmese have been exceptionally hard to reach hitherto, it is not\nso now. We have access to all classes of them, and we are positive of\nwinning them to Christ and of founding our Church among them just as\nrapidly as we can be re-enforced to do this work. Mr. Leonard has twice\nthe territory to look after that one missionary should have.\n\nOur latest work to be done is that among the Chinese. We were led into\nthis work by two circumstances. In Rangoon we found a few Chinese\nChristians who were not looked after by anybody, and to these were\nadded some of our own Chinese converts from Malaysia and some from\nChina. As Rangoon and Burma are the natural termini of the immigrants\nfrom China by sea and overland, we have a large Chinese population in\nRangoon, and this same population is very evenly distributed in all\nimportant villages of the province. These Chinamen marry Burmese women,\nso that they become identified with the Burmese people. As we aimed at\nthe conversion of the Burmese, it was easy to begin preaching for those\nthat were Christians, and to fortify the foundation of our mission to\nthe Burmese.\n\nAs in other work, we had to employ just such preachers as we could\npick up. But in 1897 we secured a young man trained by Dr. West, of\nPenang, who has done faithful preaching in Rangoon and vicinity. There\nhave been some thirty baptisms since he came to us. This work is so\nimportant that it must be done by somebody. There is a demand for as\ngreat a school for these people as we have founded in Singapore or\nPenang. But its support is not in sight.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nA Unique Enterprise\n\n\nIn March, 1897, the Rangoon Orphanage was removed to the Karen Hills,\neast of Tomgoo, and established on an industrial basis, where it has\nbeen maintained these four years under the new plan, and it has become\nthe \u201cUnique Institution of the East,\u201d as one discerning official called\nit.\n\nWhen one starts an enterprise that is entirely new he is called upon\nfor his reason for doing so. So long as he proceeds exactly as other\npeople, he needs no apology. But in all conservative countries to go\ncontrary to \u201ccustom\u201d is to invite criticism, even if one\u2019s efforts are\nan advance on the established order. One curse of India is that its\npeople are enslaved by \u201ccustom;\u201d and some of these customs are very\nbad, and most of them are wholly unprogressive. Custom has bound chains\non the people, and they have worn these chains so long that they have\ncome to love their bonds better than liberty. In most matters \u201cchange\u201d\nis undesired, and to announce that a plan is \u201cnew\u201d is enough to condemn\nit hopelessly with many, and to start a thousand tongues to attack it.\n\nIt has been shown elsewhere how pitiably situated are the poor of\nEuropean descent in all parts of Southern Asia, there is a greater\npercentage of these poor dependent on some form of public or private\ncharity than among any people I know of in any land. Perhaps in no\ncountry do the social customs do more to unfit the poor to help\nthemselves. I am persuaded also that very much of the charity of the\ncountry, of which there is a great deal, is unwisely, if not harmfully,\nbestowed. Rangoon, for instance, like all Indian cities, has a\ncharitable society made up of ministers and officials, which dispenses\na great deal of relief. Studying its methods as a member for six years,\nI became convinced that, while very much good was done, the system\npauperized a relatively large number of people, who should have been\nself-sustaining.\n\nIn this general dependent condition of a large part of these people,\nthere is the ever-present and acute distress of poor or abandoned\nchildren, for which there have been established many Orphanages and\nschools. All managers of these Orphanages are appealed to by indolent\nor destitute parents to give free schooling, including board and\nclothing, to their children. The truly orphaned, or the abandoned,\nchildren are always touching our sympathies, and appealing irresistibly\nto us for aid. The number of children born in wedlock, as well as out\nof legal bonds, who are abandoned by parents or legal relatives, is\nastonishingly large. The result of all these combinations is to fill\nour Orphanages; for the innocent child must not be allowed to suffer\nall the consequences of others\u2019 sins. So the \u201cOrphanages\u201d are found\neverywhere to care for these children of European descent, whether they\nbe Anglo-Indian or Eurasian.\n\nThe founding of the Methodist Orphanage in Rangoon has been noted\nelsewhere. In managing this Orphanage for a number of years after the\ncustom of the country, I became convinced that while the amount of\nrelief and protection given to child-life during its earlier years was\nexceedingly great, there was a very serious defect in the system of\nconducting all such institutions. I have intimated elsewhere how little\nordinary work is done by anybody of European extraction in the whole of\nSouthern Asia. This applies generally to the schools, including even\nthe Orphanages. Everything that can be done by servants is delegated to\nthem. It may surprise many American readers to know that \u201corphanages\u201d\nand \u201chomes\u201d for Eurasians in India depend on the work of servants,\nand very little on the inmates, much as other establishments of the\ncountry. This, too, not only in those things where the work is beyond\nthe power of boys and girls to do, but in many kinds of work which it\nis considered \u201cimproper\u201d or \u201cundignified\u201d for them to engage in.\n\nIt is considered right and proper for the girls to learn to sew, in\naddition to learning their lessons, and sometimes to arrange their own\nbeds. Some of them even learned to cook some kinds of food, generally\n\u201ccurry and rice.\u201d But to sweep, or scrub a floor, or thoroughly to\nclean a house, to wash or iron their own clothes, much less the\nclothes of others, or to take up cooking or dish-washing as a regular\ntask, is not thought of. Those are \u201cmenial tasks;\u201d a \u201cservant should\ndo them.\u201d What a lady of refinement and wealth in a Western land often\ndoes from choice, even the destitute depending on \u201ccharity\u201d are ashamed\nto do in Asia. To be dependent or even to \u201cbeg\u201d is no disgrace; but\nto be a cook, a nurse for a lady, or housekeeper, unless aided by\nservants, is considered a disgrace. Indeed, these kinds of work are\nnever done by any one unless under great extremities. The boys and men\nare even less willing to do the ordinary work of life. Clerkships and\nsuch like only are considered \u201crespectable\u201d employment.\n\nIn all this it will be observed that the question is not one of\nindolence or lack of energy, but one of a social system. The individual\nis not so much to blame. He does not do differently from his neighbors.\nIn the matter of the children, the managers of the Orphanages are\nresponsible, in so far as they can resist the enfeebling social\nconditions under which they work.\n\nWe then contemplated teaching the girls and boys under our care to\nhelp themselves where others depended on servants; to do this as a\nnecessary part of a well-rounded education. Of course, we recognized\nthe fact that we were undertaking to modify the social order, universal\namong an entire people. This was recognized as a very difficult task,\nand nothing but a settled conviction that the old order was fearfully\ndefective led us to undertake it. Looking back now, we have much\ninterest in recalling the comments on this undertaking. Many assured us\nthat it was a work that should be done, but would fail if undertaken.\nOthers wanted the girls especially trained for housekeepers, \u201cso we can\nbe released from dependence on the Madrassi servants.\u201d This suggestion\nwas wholly philanthropic! Another said several times: \u201cWhat are you\ntraining those girls for? For servants? I want some servants.\u201d The\nauthor of the latter remark has never made any other contribution to\nthe Orphanage so far as I can learn. People who had always received\nsomething for nothing, of whom there were many, were opposed to the\nplan. The \u201cprophets,\u201d of whom Asia has her share, were all against\nus. The \u201cloquacious oracles,\u201d talking about what they did not know,\nas was their habit, were all against us. But we had a few friends who\ngave unqualified encouragement. These were of two classes; one a small\ncompany of brave missionaries, of whom Bishop and Mrs. Thoburn were the\nrepresentatives. The other class were those who had done most for and\ngiven most money to the Orphanage on the old basis. These people who\ngave money and sympathy, while others gave poor advice and criticism,\nsaid, \u201cIf you only teach these boys and girls to care for themselves,\nit will be the greatest service to them.\u201d We were led to follow the\nadvice of our friends, who really had the problem on their hearts, and\nour own convictions, and so ventured on this untried undertaking.\n\nThe first consideration was to find a more suitable location for\nour Orphanage. To have undertaken to dispense with servants and all\nnative helpers, and to introduce an entirely new household order in\nRangoon, would have been to invite such a degree of intermeddling\nby irresponsible people, as we did not care to be annoyed with.\nBesides, the climate in the plains is very hot, and too oppressive\nfor foreigners to do the extent of physical labor required to pioneer\nsuch an undertaking. The help that the boys and girls could give at\nthe beginning would be insignificant. We sought a cooler climate.\nThis could only be found in hills high enough to lift you into a\nsubstantially cooler and less oppressive atmosphere.\n\nI had been making investigation in the hills of Burma one hundred and\nsixty miles north of Rangoon, for four years. The original object of\nthis investigation was to find a cool mountain retreat to which our\nmissionaries could go when worn with their labor in the plains. Other\nparts of India had well-established hill stations, but Burma had none.\nIn my own case, when health failed, I had to go the long journey to\nIndia, and to remain there many months. Had I been acquainted with the\nhills of Burma, this could all have been avoided by a change from the\nheat of the plains when I first began to decline. After my return to\nBurma, I determined to find such a place in Burma, if possible.\n\nThe first intimation of an accessible place came to me on a visit to\nTomgoo, where a member of my Church lived. His name was D. Souza, a\npensioner of the Indian Survey Department of the Government. As this\ngood brother was closing his work prior to retiring from the service,\nhe came to survey Thandaung, a hill twenty-three miles northeast of\nTomgoo, the head of the district and a town on the railway. Thandaung\nhad been an experimental garden under the Forestry Department of the\nGovernment in the seventies, where cinchona cultivation had been\nundertaken, also tea and coffee had been planted. A school had been\nestablished at Tomgoo, intended to teach the Karens how to grow these\nproducts. Later the school was closed, and the cultivation on the\nhills abandoned. At that time Tomgoo was the military outpost, and\nthe authorities built a road to Thandaung, and experiments with the\nplace as a hill station for their soldiers were made. When Upper Burma\nwas annexed in 1885, there was a great rush to Mandalay, and later to\nregions beyond, where in the regions of Upper Burma various attempts to\nopen military hill stations were made. Thandaung was abandoned, but not\ntill records had been made very favorable to the place as a sanitarium\nfor Europeans. This record did good service for us when we came to\nreinspect these hills.\n\nMr. D. Souza secured the most of the area of the old cantonment and\nsome of the buildings, with a view of making a large coffee plantation.\nHe had begun operations early in 1893, and I visited the place first\nin June of that year. For four years I made frequent visits during\ndifferent months of the year to test the climate thoroughly. I\nfound the climate in delightful contrast with the plains at all\ntimes, and surprisingly invigorating during most of the year. In this\ninvestigation I was much aided by my former sojourn in three of the\nhill stations of India--Almora, Naini Tal, and Mussoorie. It has the\naltitude of the first and a cooler temperature during the hottest\nweather than either of the three, while from November to May there is\nno fog and no rain.\n\nI was convinced that this most accessible hill in Burma would serve\nadmirably for our double need; a location for our industrial plans, for\nour Orphanage, and a resort for tired missionaries.\n\nBy a vote of the Bengal-Burma Conference, I was instructed to apply\nfor land for the enterprise. This Conference authority was sought\nbecause it was a good thing to be \u201cregular\u201d in a new undertaking, and\nto have the moral support of the Conference when the difficult places\nin working out the new scheme were reached. I learned afterward that\na good-natured brother remarked, \u201cO yes, vote him the authority to go\nahead; he can only fail anyway.\u201d The Government gave us a lease of\none hundred acres of land for the new undertaking, and preparations\nwere begun to move the Orphanage, together with the superintendent and\nmy own family, to this hill. But positive authority to go to our new\nlocation was given at the Conference session in February of 1897. It\nrequired much haste to close up affairs in Rangoon connected with the\nOrphanage, and make the move.\n\nBefore we actually took the train we allowed all the children whose\nrelations were unwilling to have them go with us into this new location\nand untried plan to depart from the school. Nearly a dozen left us.\nPeople whose children had been fed and clothed and schooled for years\nfor nothing were entirely unwilling to have them go into the new\nlocation, where they were to learn to work as well as to eat, and\nto a small extent work for what they ate. We yielded to them, being\nconscious all the time of the ingratitude displayed for years of care\nof their children. Indeed, it is the legitimate fruit of a system\nthat gives everything to dependent people and requires no service\nin return, that they should come to take your service and care as a\nright, without even a grateful acknowledgment for favors. There are\ncases where recipients of free care have taken the position that they\nwere conferring a favor on the missionaries by remaining under their\nprotection and care.\n\nThe experimental cinchona garden had grown up in a young forest during\nthe years since the Forestry Department had abandoned it. The roads\nwere all overgrown with rank jungle. We had a small space cleared and\na hut erected, made of bamboo mats, and supported on bamboo poles with\nsplit bamboo used as tiles folded over each other for a roof. The floor\nwas two feet from the ground, and consisted of split bamboos spread\nout flat and laid on bamboo poles. This hut was expected to protect us\nonly during the month of April, at the end of which the rains begin.\nWe arrived at Thandaung on March 24th, and took up our abode in the\nprimitive domicile. The whole structure cost thirty dollars, and\nthirty-five people moved into it, Miss Perkins, the principal of the\nOrphanage, and the writer and his family included. This furnished us\nhouse room at a cost of less than a dollar each.\n\nThis frail shelter was only intended to serve as a camping-place for\nfive weeks at the longest. I had planned for a better house than this,\nand a month earlier I had given the contract for the preliminary work\nof cutting and dragging timber for the framework, thinking it would be\npossible to secure some kind of permanent shelter early in the rains.\nIt is true this more substantial building would have to be limited to\nwhat could be built for three hundred dollars, as that was all we had\nin sight for this new enterprise.\n\nWhen we arrived on the mountain I found the Karens, who had agreed to\ndo the work of cutting and dragging timber, had failed us entirely. But\nthe tropical rains did not fail. The monsoon is always on time in Lower\nBurma. With the first downpour all hope of building operations was at\nan end.\n\nIn consequence we went into the long monsoon in this temporary\ninclosure, by courtesy called a house. We improved the shelter by\nlaying some sheets of corrugated iron on the roof, and weighting\nthem down with poles. In this house we kept school, had our sleeping\napartments, and did the cooking and baking for this large family. At\nfirst boys and girls were rebellious against assisting in household\nwork, and one girl ran away twice, all the twenty-three miles to the\nrailway. The second time we sent her permanently to her relatives.\nBut in good time much advance in orderly housekeeping was made. Had\nmeddlesome people not followed us into even this isolated place, the\nwork of training would have been much easier. Work for the boys was\nbegun also. They cut the wood, carried the water, and milked cows; also\ncultivated vegetables, and we planted some eight thousand coffee trees\nthe first year. It was the intention to make coffee-growing a basis for\nself-support. The coffee the forestry officers had planted twenty years\nbefore was growing finely, and was of the best quality. As we did our\nown work, it would seem an easy matter to secure our own support by\nthis coffee cultivation alone. There were other industries projected\nalso.\n\nDuring all the months of the first rains the health of our little\ncolony was excellent. There was not one but what received a toning up\nby the cooler atmosphere, mountain air, and healthful work. This was a\ngreat cheer to us all, and was the first step toward making Thandaung\nknown favorably for a hill station.\n\nThandaung itself is a charming locality. The mountain chain, or\nranges, \u201cKaren hills,\u201d as they are called, of which the ridge known as\n\u201cThandaung\u201d (iron mountain) is a part, cover a very large area, running\nfrom the Malay peninsula to China, and from fifty to one hundred and\nfifty miles wide. The highest elevations are nine or ten thousand\nfeet, but most of the ridges and plateaus rise no higher than three to\nfive thousand feet. The scenery is magnificent and varied in character.\nLooking westward from our school, the mountain drops away at an angle\nof about fifty-five degrees into a deep valley, down which the Pa Thi\nChang stream runs in a succession of cataracts. Then the hills rise\nagain, forming a vast amphitheater. Standing on the site of our school,\nthis splendid view is constantly before us. Looking beyond the lower\nhills, the view widens until the whole of the Sitiang Valley, with its\nwinding river and broad lakes, light up the scenery with life. Beyond\nthis plain rise in succession three ranges of the low Pegu Hills, the\nintervening valleys but dimly defined, while beyond all these there\nis a smoky depression indicating the great valley of the Irrawaddy\nRiver. Beyond this again, on the farthest horizon, are seen the rounded\nridges of the Arracan Hills, about one hundred and twenty miles from\nThandaung. In all this vast expanse of mountain, valley, and plain\nthere is not one barren rood of earth. Mountains and plains, where not\nrecently cleared, are covered with a tropical forest. Where there are\ncultivated fields, they are matted with luxuriant green of growing\nrice, or yellow with the ripened crop. This stretch of deep-green\nverdure under a tropical sun throws on the vision a combination of\ncoloring that gives the place a \u201ccharm all its own,\u201d as one admiring\nvisitor declared. When the rains have washed the atmosphere clear\nof dust, the view is very clear. Houses in Tomgoo, twenty-three miles\naway, are very clearly seen. The great oil-trees on the plains, some\nspecimens of which are left standing where a great forest has been cut\naway, lift their straight gray trunks a hundred and fifty feet to the\nfirst limb, and above this hold a majestic crown. Often have I seen,\nunder the reflected rays of the morning sun, those trunks of trees\ndefined like so many giant pencils. Yet they are twelve to fourteen\nmiles away. To the north and south the view is over well-rounded hills\nand ridges for sixty to seventy-five miles. But it is to the east we\nturn for the sublimest scenery. A little over a mile from the school\na peak rises above the surrounding heights. It is called Thandaung\nGhyi, meaning the greatest Thandaung. Climbing up the forest path, and\nfinally scaling a sharp and rocky height, we stand on the top, only\na rod across. From here all the western view, also north and south,\nis taken. Toward the east an entirely new arrangement of the hills is\nmade. From where you stand there is a precipitous descent of nearly\nthree thousand feet into a basin fifty miles across, rimmed on the\neast by a great ridge with a culminating peak called Nattaung, or\nSpirit Mountain, nine thousand feet high. The Bre Hills, where the wild\nKarens live, join this ridge, and the two curve until they complete the\nopposite border of the basin. Never have I been able to look on the\nsublime ranges of mountains and picturesque plains over this sweep of\ntwo hundred miles of Burma\u2019s varied surface, without a profound sense\nof awe and wonder. It is so wonderful that it grows on one, though seen\ndaily for years.\n\n[Illustration: MISS PERKINS AND GROUP OF GIRLS, THANDAUNG.]\n\nOnce I went with a friend to Thandaung early on a January morning.\nThis is the season when fogs hang heavily over the plains and reach\nhigh up the mountain valleys; but our mountain heights are above the\nfogs, in perpetual sunshine. When we reached the top of Thandaung Ghyi\nan unexpected view delighted our eyes. The great basin to the east\nwas filled with a dense fog, and we were looking down upon it as it\nfloated like a great gray sea three thousand feet below. The lower\nmountains here and there lifted above the fog, and their wooded tops\nmade beautiful islands in the sea of vapor. The sun was shining from\nthe opposite side, and the full flood of reflected glory fell upon our\neyes.\n\nAt another time, accompanying a Government official, I went up to get\nthis view. The rains had not yet ceased, but were dying away. We hoped\nto reach the top before the daily storm came on. We took this chance,\nas the views are the most glorious after the rains have swept the sky\nof every speck of dust. But the rains beat us, and we were drenched,\nwhile the mountain was buried in the clouds. After two hours we were\ngrowing cold, and were about to give up the object for which we came.\nLingering a last moment, I thought I saw a rift in the clouds, and then\nthe streak of light broadened, the rain grew less, the darkness lifted,\nand a field of blue appeared, the sun shone through the falling rain,\nand suddenly all the basin below, and old Nattaung, rising above,\nappeared to our entranced vision! All the heightened coloring was\nintensified by our position under the shadow of the retreating cloud.\nEyes may hardly hope to see a more wonderful vision of mountain scenery\nthan we beheld as this vision was slowly borne from the rift in that\nretreating storm.\n\nOur new enterprise was planted under such conditions and amid such\nscenes as these. While it was a discouraging task, a daily view of the\nmountains round about us drove away many an occasion of low spirits.\nTaken all together, we in time became a happy family, sharing a common\ntask. During this first monsoon our frail house several times gave way\nin floor, roof, or wall; but we suffered no serious harm. In September,\nas the sun was occasionally breaking through the clouds, and we were\nwondering what move we would make for a better habitation, a telegram\ncame from Bishop Thoburn, which read, \u201cGod has sent you a thousand\ndollars for a house.\u201d If the heavens had opened suddenly, and the\nmoney had dropped into our upturned hands, it could hardly have been\nmore really a providential gift in our extreme need. No wonder we all\n_rejoiced aloud_! Later a letter came, telling us that a good woman\nwho had come from Scotland to India to visit missions, and having\nbrought considerable money with her to give to mission institutions,\nhad been in conference with Bishop and Mrs. Thoburn, and as a result\nof a canvass of all the many worthy objects in which a great mission\nis fostering, she chose this Thandaung school as the first to receive\nher favor. She approved the undertaking, and gave a thousand dollars to\nerect a building for the school. No wonder the bishop could telegraph\nthat God had sent the help. This was only the beginning of the\nbeneficence of this good woman; and the strange thing was that she had\nno acquaintance with Methodists, and had been trained in a Church of\nquite opposite teaching and polity from ours.\n\nThe building of our first house deserves mention. The logs were cut\nfrom the forest and dragged to a sawpit and sawed by hand by Burmese\nsawyers, in the old style of one man above and one man under the log.\nThis was slow and crude work; but it was the only way to get building\nmaterial. The framework was built on posts set in the ground, as has\nbeen the universal custom in the construction of wooden houses in\nBurma. The iron for the roof had to be brought from Rangoon by rail to\nTomgoo, and from there to the mountain top, by carts and coolies. This\npioneer work took time and the most constant supervision. The number\nand character of men that the missionary has to work with, as well as\nthe mixed character of the population of Burma, may be understood from\nthe following account: I bought the iron of a Scotchman, who imported\nit from Germany. It was delivered to a Eurasian station master, aided\nby a Bengali clerk. The railroad that carried it is owned by the\nGovernment, but managed by the Rothschilds. The iron was delivered\nat Tomgoo by a Eurasian station master, aided by a Hindu clerk from\nMadras, and another a Mohammedan from Upper India. A Tamil cart-man\ncarried it to the Sitiang River, where a Bengali Mohammedan carried it\nover the ferry. A Telegu cart man hauled it to the foot of the hills.\nShan coolies carried it up to Thandaung, where Burmese carpenters\nput it on the house with nails that I bought of a Chinaman, who had\nimported them from America. The logs of the house had been cut from\nthe forest by Karens, and drawn to the sawpit by a Siamese elephant!\nThe missionary had the simple duty of making all the connections and\nkeeping the iron moving to its destination.\n\nBut we were needing the new house badly before we got it. Part of the\nroof was nailed on, the frame completed, but only a very little of the\nplank walls begun, when our old hut collapsed entirely. We had often\npatched the rotting bamboos, but as the monsoon passed away the east\nwind, as usual on those hills, began to blow with great force, and the\nfrail walls repeatedly gave way before it, and finally one morning the\nentire roof and sides were blown away. A very wonderful providence was\nmanifested, in that no one of our large family was hurt. Most of the\nsmaller children had been romping on the east side of the house, and\nthe gale of wind was blowing from the east. In their play they suddenly\nran down the path fifty yards or so from the house. In that instant\nthe roof and poles that held it down were lifted and hurled upon the\nplace where they had been playing the moment before. The loose pieces\nof corrugated iron cut the air like swords, and some of them were\ncarried far down the mountain side, which falls in precipitous descent\nfrom that point. Had the children not been moved away for that moment\nby the unseen hand of God, they must have been cruelly hurt. As it was\nthey were out of danger, while those of us that were in the collapsed\nhouse suffered no harm. This is but one of many indications which we\nhad of the kindly Providence in all our pioneering. For nearly three\nyears from the beginning of this work, there was not a case of serious\nsickness nor an injury of consequence by any accident suffered by any\nof our little colony.\n\nBut as our old hut was gone beyond repair or reconstruction, and as the\nwind was now cold, for it was November, the matter of providing shelter\nbecame a serious matter. The frame of our new house was completed,\nand a part of the roof was on, also a few planks nailed upright at\none corner. Taking this beginning as a starting, we inclosed a part\nof the space of the building by bamboo mats, laid a little flooring\ntemporarily, and then, having divided this into two rooms, we moved\ninto our new quarters. The workmen went right on with the construction\nof the house. We lived in the house while it was being builded. When\ncompleted, though built of unseasoned wood, poorly sawed and roughly\nput together, it was a palace compared with what we had before, and\nindeed it continues to this day to do very good service.\n\n[Illustration: FIRST PERMANENT BUILDING ON THANDAUNG]\n\nAbout the time the house was completed, Miss Bellingham, the generous\ndonor of the thousand dollars, came to Burma to see what use we had\nmade of the money. She spent a week on Thandaung, to our great delight\nand hers. She consented that the building might bear her name, and we\nhave since called it \u201cBellingham Home.\u201d\n\nShortly after we began operations on this hill, public interest in the\nplace began to be shown. I wrote some letters to the Rangoon papers,\nand visitors did likewise. The advantages of the place were laid before\nthe Government. Officials began to come up on tours of inspection. The\nplace grew in favor, and it was planned to give Government sanction\nto making it into a station. A new road up the mountain, giving a\nbetter grade than the old road, and the cart road across the plain was\nmetalled. The old travelers\u2019 bungalow on the hill, that had fallen\ninto decay since the military left the place, was rebuilt. So the\nimprovement goes on till now. The latest plan contemplates a cart road\nrunning entirely up the mountain, and the survey of the whole hill into\nbuilding sites. There is every promise of this becoming the favorite\nresort in Burma for the people who seek a change from the heat of the\nplains.\n\nIn the meantime the scheme has had a good degree of prosperity, in\nspite of the fact that it was pioneer in character and location. The\nirresponsible gossips continue to attack it, the fearful in heart who\nlove their bondage to the old order still stand agape as they see the\nschool continue on its way. The people who have been beating their way\nthrough the world still cry it down. But an increasing number of people\nwho believe in self-dependence, and the character it develops, are in\ngreat sympathy with this work. Some who can pay full boarding fees send\ntheir children to us. They have adopted with us the theory that this\nself-help is to be accepted as a necessary part of a well-appointed\nsystem of education.\n\nThere has been a specially significant growth in usefulness among\nthe girls. They have learned to bake excellent bread, cook and serve\na variety of food in a cleanly and orderly manner, and to keep the\nentire house in good taste and comfort. This is realized as a great\naccomplishment when one has seen the slovenly, untidy houses commonly\nfound where the woman in the house does not do anything to keep the\nhouse in order herself, and counts it impossible that she should do\nwhat she chooses to call \u201ccoolie\u2019s work.\u201d A woman like this would not\nknow enough even to instruct good servants in keeping the house, much\nless the worthless servants she can ill afford to keep, whose only\nqualification is that they are as incompetent as servants as their\nmistress is as head of the establishment. Yet almost universally such\nwomen would prefer to exist in a hovel, and give orders to a miserable\nservant, rather than have a decent abode, if they had to sweep, scrub,\nor dust it with their own hands. In contrast to these are the girls\ntrained in our industrial school. They can do all things necessary to\nkeeping a house, and have almost forgotten that there are any servants\nin the world. They have done all this, and at the same time they have\nbeen in school, doing as good work as girls in other schools, where\nthey depend on servants for even buttoning their clothes.\n\nOur girls are self-respecting young women, far beyond what they could\nhave been had they not received the advantages in character that come\nfrom self-help in ordinary daily tasks.\n\nThe boys have generally profited by the outdoor work. Having nothing\nto begin with, it has not been possible as yet to organize the outdoor\nwork as that within doors. Plans are under way, however, to develop\nthis branch of the school, hoping for a large industrial plant.\n\nEnough has been done in these four years greatly to encourage those of\nus who have sacrificed something in planning and carrying forward this\nnew feature of industrial mission work. There is to-day more material\nadvantage in this plant than can be shown in any institution anywhere\nthat I have been for the money invested. More has been done in direct\nschool work, for the money invested, than in almost all the English\nschools with which I am acquainted. The effect of the work on the boys\nand girls under our care has exceeded our highest hopes. I am sure not\none of us would be willing to go back to the old order of Orphanages.\nThe boys and girls themselves do not want to return to the old order.\nThe school has met with a degree of favor from those whose judgment is\ncounted of the highest value to us, by reason of the fact that they\nhave put money into the plant under the old order and the new also,\nthat we hardly dared to hope for. We have also received a bequest of\nseventeen hundred dollars with which we have put up a second building.\nThe patronage of the school by people of means and social standing\nis such as to encourage us much. It reveals the fact that the school\nmeets a want felt most by the people who make a financial success of\nlife, but see that self-help should be taught to every child regardless\nof financial circumstances. These people believe that indolence,\ndependence, and slovenly habits are a disgrace, and honest work in all\nthings is honorable.\n\nMiss Perkins, now in the eleventh year of her continuous service on the\nfield, has carried on this work for more than a year, being aided by\nMiss Rigby, who went to her aid in 1900.\n\nThis industrial school was founded to reteach the truth long since\nforgotten in Asia that all kinds of household and manual toil are\nrespectable. The Lord himself was a carpenter, and washed the feet of\nhis disciples, which many of those who bear his name would be ashamed\nto do. The school has run four years without a servant, and is stronger\nthan when it began. In this it is the only institution among Europeans\nin all Asia that is so managed. It is absolutely unique in this. It\npromises much usefulness and a large growth. But if it were closed up\nto-morrow, it would still have proved by four successful years that\nsuch a plan is possible of successful operation even in Asia.\n\nWhile it is not directly a part of mission enterprise, it may be\nof interest to some reader to have some account of experiences and\nobservations in a Burma forest. Some such experiences came to me in\nconnection with life on and about Thandaung. Nearly the entire distance\nfrom Tomgoo to Thandaung is through a forest reserve of the Government.\nSeveral miles of this forest are made up of the great trees before\nmentioned. One variety produces an oil used in Europe for making\nvarnish. The method of extracting this oil is very curious. A deep cut\nis made in the tree near the ground, and in this cut a fire is built\nand kept burning until the tree is blackened ten feet or more from the\nground. Then the coals are taken out of the cut, which has become a\nsort of cup, into which the oil oozes from the wound made by the fire\non the tender tree. It seems almost cruel to treat the giant trees in\nthis way. It is astonishing that they survive and heal over the great\nblackened scars left on their sides.\n\nAnother remarkable thing observed in these forests is the growth of\nnotable vines and parasites. Here is to be seen a great vine, like\nhalf a dozen grape-vines joined together, climbing high round and into\nthese splendid trees. The trunk is usually not large, though so tall.\nThen high up on this tree a spore of the peepul-tree finds a lodgment,\nand sprouts, the leaf upward, the root running downward, hugging\nclose to the tree as if drawing life from the trunk. Sometimes the\nyoung growth starts a hundred feet from the ground. As its main root\ndescends it throws outside roots which encircle the tree, and these\nroots branch again so the whole trunk is soon inclosed in a great net,\never tightening. Here is seen a very strange thing. These roots do not\noverlap, but grow right into each other when they come in contact,\nand the union is made without a trace or scar. As these meshes of the\nliving net grow, they tighten into a hug that kills, first the vine\nand then the tree. Each in turn is devoured by the great parasite. Its\nnet meantime becomes a solid wooden shell, reaching to the ground and\nlifting its crown high among the other giants; a tree made great by the\ndeath of two others; a tree and vine, each seemingly having as much\nright to live as this parasite that preys on other forest life.\n\nAnother singular circumstance annually occurs in the forest. About\nthe end of January a species of great bees, as large as the American\nhornet, come from migrations, nobody knows where, and rest upon the\nunder side of the branches in the crowns of these great monarchs of the\nforest, which sometimes rise two hundred feet from the ground. About\nthis time some varieties of these trees are in heavy bloom, and no\ndoubt it is this which brings the bees. They locate on only one or two\nkinds of trees, and at once begin to build honeycombs, suspending them\nfrom the under side of the limb. They multiply rapidly, and by March\nthere are sometimes as many as twenty to thirty swarms on a tree. The\nhoneycombs are sometimes three feet long, and hang perpendicularly a\nfoot and a half. The study of these bees is very interesting. They\nbuild on the same trees from year to year.\n\nBut the most impressive fact is to observe the method of collecting the\nhoney. The trees are perfectly smooth, and are often without a limb for\none hundred and fifty feet. The Karens usually collect the honey, and\nthe Burmese dealers come to the camps to buy it when first secured,\nand take much of it away to the towns. How do they get the honey? The\nKarens climb up these bare trunks. But how? Some of them are seven\nfeet thick, and can not be grasped in a man\u2019s arms so as to enable him\nto climb. The daring man drives thin bamboo pegs into the bark of the\ntree, and goes up on these. More, he drives in the pegs as he climbs!\nThey are about eight inches long outside of the small portion imbedded\nin the bark, and twenty-two inches apart. So the climber, beginning\nat the ground, can only place two or three pegs before he begins his\nascent. In all this perilous climb he never has the use of more than\ntwo of these short projections at once. On these he clings with feet\nand legs while he must use both hands in driving a new one. To get the\nhoney, he must wait till night, and then with material for a torch, a\nvessel for the honey, and a rope to lower it, he climbs up into the\ndarkness and out onto the great branches, where with lighted torch he\ndrives the bees away and cuts off the well-filled honeycomb, and lowers\nit to others on the ground. In this manner he takes all the honey from\na tree. A more daring feat for a small return can hardly be imagined.\nAnd nerves of steadier poise are required to prevent the destruction\nof the climber. He receives a dollar and a half for clearing one tree.\nSurely a life is regarded of little value among these people.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nThe Present Situation in Missions\n\n\nThe first century of modern missions has closed under circumstances of\ngreat encouragement, not without its element of deep solicitude. The\nlast ten or fifteen years have brought to the home Church the report of\nmore triumphs of the gospel than any like period since the days of the\napostles. All lands are open, or are being opened, to the missionary.\nConverts are coming by the tens of thousands annually into our mission\nChurches, where even a quarter of a century ago the same missions would\nhave been content with scores. Missionaries formerly had only those\ndifficulties to adjust which met the little band of converts, while\nto-day they have the problem of the rapidly-growing Church, so recently\ngathered out of heathenism.\n\nChina has had an upheaval; but all missionaries believe the future\nof the Chinese missions is bright with hope. The martyrdom of the\nmissionaries and the Chinese converts has been as heroic as any in\nChristian annals. Whatever the Chinaman may or may not be generally, as\na Christian he has proven himself worthy. The persecuted young Church\nwill be worthy of the millions of converts that are to be gathered in\nwhen the country has been settled again.\n\nIn Southern Asia there has been the famine, far more terrible in its\nconsequences than the mobs and wars in China. But the famine has been\ngreatly relieved, and the impress of Christianity and civilization\nrelieving its worst distress has been wholly good. Many thousands\nof converts are presenting themselves to the Church. Baptisms were\ndiscontinued in the famine districts during the year of greatest\ndistress. But since the famine has ended, we hear of two conservative\nbrethren baptizing eighteen hundred in three days in Gujarat, with the\nprospect of eight or ten thousand others coming into the Christian\ncommunity after them in that district alone.\n\nAll over the vast Indian field people hitherto counted difficult of\naccess are ready to listen to the gospel. The Burmese were counted,\nuntil recently, so fortified in their Buddhism that they could not\nbe induced to accept the gospel; but we find it is not so now. One\nmissionary, new to the field too, baptized more than one hundred last\nyear, and he might easily have added many more if he had been properly\nsupported. What could not a mission, aggressive and large enough to\nhave momentum, do? It would be easy to add to the young Church in\nSouthern Asia, being gathered by Methodism, twenty-five thousand\nconverts annually, if we could be re-enforced only slightly. Yet, as\nit is, we must keep accessible people waiting for years till we can\nreceive them.\n\nThere is just now an important movement going on in far away Borneo,\nthe Southern limit of this vast field. There has recently been\nestablished a colony of Chinese Christian immigrants in the island.\nBishop Warne visited them, and placed a preacher in charge. They are\nimmigrants from Southern China. Other Christians will follow these\npioneers. They are in immediate contact with the Dyaks, head hunters\nof the island, and must have much to do in influencing and probably\nbeginning a work of conversion among these savages of the Borneo jungle.\n\nAll eyes are upon the Philippine Islands, where a new reformation\nappears to be going on. Thousands of Catholics, who have never known\nthe comfort of a pure, simple faith, nor the joy of reading the Word of\nGod, are crying out for the full gospel light. They are appealing to\nthe Protestant missionaries for instruction, and they are being led to\na purer faith.\n\nAll this array of current mission facts declares that God is owning\nhis messengers in every land; that he is fairly crowding success on to\nthe missionaries, to cheer them and quicken the Church in home lands\ninto something of a true conception of the magnitude and urgency of his\nplans for giving the gospel to every creature, and to lift the age-long\nnight from the Christless nations.\n\nThus success of missions throws a great burden of work and\nresponsibility upon the missionaries at the front. It can hardly be\nunderstood in America. In the home land most pastors have Churches,\nthe whole machinery of which has long been in working order, and\nthey pursue that work along well-established lines. Their entire\nsurroundings are of, or are influenced by, the Christian Church, and at\nleast a Christianized civilization. The pastor is not required to go\noutside of the well-known methods of carrying on our Church work.\n\nIn the foreign field the contrary is the case. The missionary is\ncompelled to be a pioneer in methods of work. He is against a living\nwall of idolatrous humanity, and he often feels very sorely the lack of\nhuman support and sympathy. He has to carry the finances of the mission\nas well. Oftentimes he is the only resource the mission enterprise\nhas. In the Methodist mission in Southern Asia more property has been\nsecured by the unaided missionary than through Missionary Societies. In\naddition to all the burdens of a surrounding heathenism and of mission\nbusiness, the missionary has charge of more Church members than the\naverage pastor at home. In the Methodist Episcopal Missions of Southern\nAsia the members of Annual Conferences, including missionaries and\nnative members, have more than twice as many Church members to care\nfor, per man, than the pastors at home, the average being taken in both\ncases.\n\nThe greatest need of every mission with which the writer is acquainted,\nand pre-eminently so in the Methodist Episcopal Mission, is more\nwell-equipped missionaries. Yet this is exactly what we can not get. We\ncan only hope that we can maintain about the number of missionaries\non the whole field which we now have. This means if there is any\nextension of the field so as to require missionaries in new places,\nthey must be thinned out in the older parts of the mission. The Church\nhas candidates for the foreign field, but the Missionary Society has no\nmoney to send them. Recently some of the finest candidates have been\nrefused for the lack of money for their support, while the missionaries\non the field are fairly staggering under the load they carry, hoping\nfor delayed re-enforcements, who do not arrive. The disproportion of\nwork actually in hand, to the men and women who do that work, is most\ndistressing.\n\nThere are great questions of missionary policy to settle. A strong\nforce of missionaries, adequately superintended by men who are\nacquainted with the work they superintend, is the least that can\nbe asked in our missions. A close and detailed oversight of all\nmission interests, working out a far-sighted policy, which changes\nonly by light that comes by actual experience in mission work, is\nof the greatest value. It is clear this superintendency can not be\naccomplished by periodical visits of some official whose whole life\nhas been spent in the home field. A secretary or a Mission Board\nis of little account in determining the internal management in any\nfar-distant field. An occasional visit by some such official may do\nincidental good in acquainting the missionaries with the condition in\nthe home Church, and in bringing to the people at home fresh facts from\nthe field. But for administrative purposes on the field such visits\nare of little or no value.\n\nThe Methodist Episcopal Missions in Southern Asia have been most\nhighly favored in thirteen years of the missionary episcopacy, with\nBishop Thoburn to fill the office of superintendent and leader.\nHis administration is sure to become more and more monumental as\ntime reveals its scope and character. It is now clear that no other\nepiscopal supervision hitherto provided by Methodism is equal to this\nmissionary episcopacy for the far-distant mission fields.\n\nThe success of this policy and of Bishop Thoburn in that office\ndetermines the question of the future policy of the Church in the\nadministration of the mission field of Southern Asia. The General\nConference of 1900 by a decisive vote increased the missionary\nepiscopal force in this field, and by an equally decisive vote elected\nDr. E.\u00a0W. Parker and Dr. F.\u00a0W. Warne to the missionary episcopacy, and\nin co-ordinate authority with Bishop Thoburn.\n\nThe election of Dr. Parker as bishop was a general recognition of his\nlong and pre-eminently successful missionary career. The election of\nDr. Warne to a like office was in response to a like choice of India,\nfor this younger, but very efficient missionary, whose pastorate\nand presiding eldership in the city of Calcutta had been of such a\ncharacter as to make him well qualified for the larger office to which\nhe has been called. But one year has passed since their election, and a\ngreat change has come. Bishop Warne has been eminently acceptable in\nhis new office, and he has traveled widely throughout the great field\nwhere Methodism has its foothold in the southlands of Asia. But Bishop\nParker\u2019s stalwart form has yielded, after a prolonged battle with an\nobscure disease which laid its hand upon him within a few months after\nhis election. His death demands a reverent pause, while we drink in\nrenewed inspiration from reflection on his noble Christian manhood and\nreally pre-eminent service as a missionary.\n\nBishop Parker had labored over forty-two years as a missionary to\nIndia, and it is a safe statement that in this more than twoscore years\nhe did more work than any missionary in India of any Church, or perhaps\nin any land, in the same time. The work which he did in laying broad\nfoundations, winning men to Christ, calling into being valuable mission\nagencies, and as a masterful, statesman-like administration in the\nChurch, has classified him, from two separate and distinct sources, as\n\u201cthe most successful missionary in India.\u201d Every element of his noble\nChristian manhood and eminent ability measured up to the requirements\nof this exceptional estimate of the missionary and his work.\n\nHe has now ascended to his heavenly reward, to be forever with the Lord\nand to share in his glory. The cablegram that reached us in America was\nbrief, but laden with a great sorrow and a greater triumph, \u201cParker\ntranslated!\u201d We will no more have his counsels, his inspiring presence,\nthe grasp of his strong hand, or hear his manly voice in Indian\nConferences. For this loss we weep. He was \u201ctranslated.\u201d In this glad\ntriumph we are filled with joy. Death is abolished to such a saintly\nfollower of his Lord passing from mortal vision.\n\nBishop Parker was ready for other worlds. His recent testimony was\ntriumphant, in keeping with the godly life he lived. It was fitting\nthat the good bishop should take his departure from amidst the glorious\nIndian hills he had loved so long. His last days were spent in Naini\nTal, amid the most varied mountain scenery in India. Here lies the\nlake of wonderful clearness, stretching for a mile in length, filling\nthe basin. Around the lake is the mall, or broad road. From this\nroad others branch off, some circular and others zigzagging up the\nmountains, which rise a thousand and more feet above the lake, their\nsides clad from base to top with, evergreen, pines, and oak. Here\nresidences, churches, and schools nestle among the trees wherever\nspace can be found. Here tired missionaries go in May and June to rest\nfrom the fiery heat of the plains below, and to gird themselves anew\nwith strength as they look upon God\u2019s mountains. From the northern\nridge they look upon the whole mountain amphitheater with its glorious\nlake \u201cshimmering\u201d in the sunlight, high-rimmed with its border of\nliving green, while to the north, stretching hundreds of miles to\neast and west, rise the perpetually snow-covered Himalaya mountains.\nThe picture, one of nature\u2019s wonders, has few equals for inspiring\nbeauty and grandeur combined. As the man looks through the rare, clear,\nmountain air, on peaks and range resting in quiet strength and majesty,\nhe almost feels as if he was in sight of the eternal hills where God is.\n\nAmid such scenes, with his brave wife by his side, companion of his\nmissionary labors about him, and a host of God-fearing Christians all\nover India, among whom were a multitude of the dusky natives, waiting\nin sorrow because they \u201cshould see his face no more,\u201d the bishop was\n\u201ctranslated.\u201d As his Lord on the Mount of Olivet took one look upon his\ndisciples, and then a cloud received him and he ascended on high, so\nhis servant was translated from the hills of Naini Tal; was caught up\namid the clouds to be forever with his Lord.\n\nSo the workmen fall. Others labor on, but they are overburdened. They\nmust be re-enforced. The young native Church must be shepherded.\nThousands of others will join the flock.\n\nJust here we missionaries have our greatest fear. We are the Church\u2019s\nrepresentatives. God is with us, and the doors are all open. We have\ndone all that men and women can do. Will the Church at home sustain us\nin the great and glorious task that is appointed to us? This is our\nonly fear. So loyal and true are many of the hearts at home to the\ncause of missions, that it seems unkind to speak of any lack. Yet,\nwhile we love every generous impulse of those who give money and time\nto that which, as missionaries, we give our lives and our loved ones,\nwe love our cause so much the more that we must be true to its urgent\nneeds and its perils for the want of a little money.\n\nThat our advance is retarded over a vast area, that many of our\ninstitutions are imperiled, that native preachers are being dropped\nfor the lack of the small salary they require, and that we are being\ncompelled to ask of our Board to give up a section of our India Church\nbecause missionary appropriations are cut down, is but an outline of\nour care at this time. To the home Church we look for relief.\n\nThis relief can come only in one way. Our people at home, in the most\nwonderful prosperity America ever knew, are not increasing their gifts\nto missions with their growth in wealth. Some are, but most are not.\nThe aggregate of all moneys given by the Methodist Episcopal Church\nfor preaching the gospel in heathen lands is only about twenty-two\ncents per member. This is all that is given to declare Christ to the\nChristless nations! Our people are giving about forty times as much for\ntheir own religious instruction and for the gospel in Christianized\nlands. This proportion is distressing to the missionary who stands\namong millions of people who have been waiting nineteen centuries, and\nhave never yet heard that a Savior had been born into the world.\n\nThe writer is convinced that the measurable failure to give to the\ncause of missions as our people are able to give, is due to the failure\nto get the information to them in an effective way. It is not the\nwriter\u2019s intention to locate the responsibility or discuss a policy of\nraising missionary funds, but clearly a virtual standstill in receipts\nunder present conditions is defeat for the missionary cause.\n\nOne fact is certain, our present methods of raising funds leaves the\nmajority of our people without feeling the immediate and imperative\nneed of this cause, or inspiring them with the certainty of gaining\na great result by the investment of money in missions. We are in the\nsecond year of the \u201cThank-offering\u201d movement, and more than eleven\nmillion dollars have been pledged toward the \u201cThank-offering,\u201d and\ncertainly not nearly one hundred thousand dollars of this amount has\ngone to missions. Not one dollar in a hundred!\n\nOne chief reason why this disparity exists is because all other causes\nhave employed special agencies to reach every nook and corner of the\nChurch, and the cause of missions is being operated at long range and\non general principles, often as only one of the \u201cbenevolences,\u201d and\nmust necessarily fail to advance to any considerable extent under\npresent conditions and absolute restrictions.\n\nBut there are hopeful indications. Some officials and some pastors\nbegin to see the situation and to inquire what can be done to relieve\nthe straits. A number of loyal souls are tenderly giving their most\ncherished treasures to the cause of missions. In a year\u2019s campaign at\nhome I have come in heart-touch with so many such that I would gladly\nbelieve there is a multitude who cherish the cause of missions as\nsupreme, as it really is.\n\nThe Mission Conference in Burma, little company that it is, is being\nre-enforced by a promising band of six missionaries, long overdue it is\ntrue, but now gladly and gratefully received. Nearly all of these are\nbeing sent by the sacrifice of people who give largely of that which\nis a sacrifice to give. One missionary family is being sent out and\nsustained for a part of this year by more than fifteen hundred dollars\ngiven by the preachers of the Kansas and the St. Louis Conferences.\nThis very large giving of men of very small resources to a special\nobject that touched their hearts has put new courage into all our\nlittle Burma Mission. In this giving they have helped put true-hearted\nmissionaries in the field, and I believe permanently enlarged their\nsympathy for missions, if indeed they have not also indicated an\nimproved policy of raising mission funds.\n\nThe Woman\u2019s Foreign Missionary Society, through some of its young lady\nAuxiliaries, is doing most generous things for the re-enforcements to\nBurma.\n\nBurma has waited long for even small re-enforcements, and needs yet\nmany other things before it is fairly launched as a mission. But with\nthe re-enforcements we have now in immediate prospect, we are so\nencouraged we can return to our field and take up the work with renewed\ncourage and hope, knowing of the increased number of friends of\nmissions who support us with money and prayerful sympathy.\n\nA hope I often cherished in times of great weariness and discouragement\nseems in part being realized. Many times in Rangoon, when wearied to\nexhaustion with the work of two or three men, I have gone up to the\nSway Dagon Pagoda, and, looking upon its gilded mass and the Burmans\nchanting their meaningless laudations, I have longed for heralds\nenough to bring these people the gospel instead of Buddhism, and to\nreplace the pagodas of the land with Christian Churches; longed for\nre-enforcements that came not. Then I turned into the northeast corner\nof the pagoda area and looked upon the graves of the British officers\nwho fell in the war of 1852 while storming that pagoda. Then down the\nslope up which that band of Anglo-Saxons charged, to the graves of\nsoldiers who were buried where they fell. My blood warmed with the\nthought that these men gave their lives without a word of complaint for\ntheir queen whom they loved, and the flag which they raised over this\nfar-distant land, to the immense benefit of the land of Burma. Then I\nremembered that the world-wide empire of which this is a part had been\nsecured and maintained by men who, as these, had laid down their lives\nfor the flag they loved.\n\nFrom this scene and its suggestions I turned away, encouraged to hold\nmy post till re-enforcements would come up for the preaching of the\ngospel of the Son of God, who sent me to Burma. Here was a very human\nkind of encouragement. Looking up the shining pagoda shaft I saw a\nsprout of the peepul-tree, the sacred tree of Buddhism, which grows\nanywhere on any surface where its spores can find lodgment; which when\nneglected has torn to fragments hundreds of pagodas, here springing\nfrom the great pagoda two hundred feet from the ground. It had found an\nopening through the gold leaf, or perhaps had been buried in the mortar\nwith which its surface had been plastered, and had sent its roots deep\ninto the brick mass of the pagoda; while its green branches grew in a\nthriving cluster over the gilded sides. What did it matter that this\ntree was two hundred feet from the ground, and had no moisture save\nwhat its roots could extract from the dry bricks and its leaves draw\nout of the air! This peepul-tree can thrive anywhere!\n\nBeautiful symbolism! The gilded colossal pagoda represents the lifeless\nsystem of hoary Buddhism. The growing young tree represents the\nreligion of Jesus Christ, filled with the life of the Son of God. It\nwill crumble Buddhism back to dust, as that tree, if fostered, will\ndestroy the pagoda, Buddhism\u2019s most ornate symbol. Looking on this\nscene, my heart took new courage, as under Divinely-given cheer, to\nlabor on for the salvation of the Buddhists and other people of Burma.\n\nWhen describing the pagoda and its surrounding, at Adams, New York,\nI dwelt at some length on the graves of the English soldiers there,\nand spoke of their courage and self-sacrifice. There was a large\ncongregation present, nearly all of whom were strangers to me. At the\nclose of the service I saw a little man start from the rear of the\nchurch and make his way down the side aisle, then across the church,\nand as he came he quickened his step; and grasping my hand he exclaimed\nwith trembling voice: \u201cI tried to come to church this morning, having\nheard a man from Burma was to speak; but I could not get here. I live\nnine miles back in the Adirondacks, and I drove in to-night to hear\nyou. I am so glad those graves of the English soldiers are cared for; I\nwas in the regiment that stormed that pagoda hill in 1852.\u201d He wrung my\nhand and shed tears of gladness because I came from Burma and brought\nhim a voice from the land of the stirring scenes of his soldier life of\nforty-eight years ago.\n\nThere will be a day when every pagoda will crumble down, every mosque\nand Hindu temple fall into decay, and Christian churches stand in their\nplaces, and Burma, as all other parts of this needy world, will be\nfully redeemed. In a brighter world there will be a time of rejoicing\nover the gospel triumphs, and all who in person or by proxy aided in\nthe gospel victories in all the world, shall strike glad hands, like\nthe old soldier, and say, \u201cI was there and helped in the glorious\nwork.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nBenefits of British Rule in Southern Asia\n\n\nThe missionary is one of the most interested students of government\nthat can be found. Good or bad government affects his work vitally.\nNot only does good government give him protection from violence, but\nit gives settled peace to the people among whom he preaches, and thus\nprovides the best conditions for the success of his calling. He can\nnot wait for good government where it is not; but where he has the\nbenefits of a settled state of society that is protected by wholesome\nlaws promptly executed, he is one of the first men to recognize the\npriceless benefits of such government. Then he looks to the effect\nof government on the general conditions of the people. His views of\ngovernment are not narrow. He looks ahead to the final effect on the\nmass of the people of the Government under which he lives. From every\nstandpoint the missionaries whose fields lie under the British flag are\nbest situated of all men of like calling in foreign lands. It therefore\ncomes to pass that all missionaries, of whatever nationality, living\nin Southern Asia are almost a unit in praise of the Government. This\nGovernment, which has for more than forty years given protection to\nlife, calling, and property of its nearly three hundred million diverse\npeoples, and that in unbroken peace, deserves the highest approval of\nall fair-minded men.\n\nLife is as well protected in Southern Asia as it is in almost any land.\nThe highest in the land and the meanest coolie are alike protected\nbefore the law. Where any man thinks he can insult or assault with even\na little lordliness there is recourse to the law, and that within reach\nof the lowliest and the poorest, and he can get evenhanded justice for\nany injury, and that quickly. Perhaps in no land is the man of high\nand the man of low degree dealt with with more evenhanded and prompt\njustice than in Southern Asia. There are many social distinctions made\nin Asia, most of all in Southern Asia, peculiar to the land, and the\nGovernment adds its official distinctions and social ranks. But when\nit comes to the law and its administration in protection against all\noppression and injustices, these social conditions have no place. It\nappears to be true that in a Briton\u2019s mind there are two places where\nmen of all stations have equal rights--before a court, and at the\nsacramental altar in the church. Every man is protected in the exercise\nof his religious faith, and must not be molested by any. To revile\nanother\u2019s religion is to bring down the swift penalty of the law.\n\nIt is possible for missionaries and other travelers to come and go\nanywhere in the Indian Empire without a thought as to their personal\nsafety, as that is assured. Even unattended ladies make long journeys,\nand with only native carriers, sometimes travel in unfrequented regions\nand in the darkness; but so far as I can learn, there has not for many\nyears been an insult offered to one of them. Some of our own workers\nlive and travel in remote regions, even on the extreme borders of the\nempire, and sometimes these are lone women; but we do not hear of even\nserious inconveniences to them on account of their isolation. This\nis due chiefly to the Government, which protects life, persons, and\ncalling.\n\nIt is, therefore, not surprising that the missionaries are among the\nmost devoted supporters of the British Government in Southern Asia.\nIt is likely they would support any Government under which they would\nfind themselves called to work. They would teach their converts loyalty\nand obedience to law. But it is a great gain to be able to say to all\nthe peoples of the Indian Empire that the Government under which they\nfind themselves is one of the very best the world has produced. And if\nit were necessary to say it, they could truthfully add, better than\nany possible Government by native rulers, better for themselves, and\nbetter for all people in the land. It is a great pleasure to American\nmissionaries to acknowledge the good government of India, for in it\nthey find many of the best principles in which they believe. So far as\nI can learn, this just tribute from the American missionaries is well\nnigh universal among them, and the older they are and the longer they\nhave lived in any part of this great empire, the more confirmed they\nare in their views.\n\nOf all the institutions of the Government that are most to be\ncommended, the courts are perhaps the most notable. There are several\nfeatures of these courts which are specially commendable. They are\nprompt to a degree. Long, vexatious delays over technicalities of law\nare most unusual. It is not infrequent that a serious breach of law is\nbrought to account very soon, and finally settled. Certain it is that\nmoney and influence and the \u201ctricks of lawyers\u201d can not long delay\nfinal decision on any case. Then there is no crowding to the wall the\npoor man without influence or money to aid him. The poorest can sue as\na pauper, and have his case heard in regular order with the rich man of\nhigh station. He can get as certain justice, based on evidence. Cases\nare on record in recent years to illustrate how the socially high and\neven the official class have been rebuked and punished at the plaint\nof the lowliest in the land. They would be well worth recording if\ntheir publication would not be understood as too personal. It is this\nabsolutely even-handed justice that has called out the comment of the\nnative of India, \u201cThe English judge is not afraid of the face of man.\u201d\nNo partiality is shown for race or condition.\n\nThe system of Government seems to be well worthy of study. There is\nthe viceroy, and associated with him, but not limiting his powers, a\nCouncil representing the entire Empire. There are lieutenant-governors\nover provinces. Then there are chief commissioners over portions of\nthe country that are not regarded of sufficient importance to have\nlieutenant-governors. Under both these officials the next officers\nin rank are commissioners over divisions, and these in turn have\ndeputy commissioners under them who administer districts. Below the\ndeputy commissioners there are several lesser officers, usually over\ntownships, but having a wide range of duties. From viceroy down to\ndeputy commissioners the officers have certain executive, or executive\nand judicial powers combined. The higher officers have also authority\nto some extent in military affairs.\n\nThe army is made up of British troops and native soldiers, with a great\npreponderance of the latter. There are also many belonging to the\nmilitary police. The same division is made in the civil police. The\npolice department is perhaps the most difficult branch of Government to\nkeep efficient and free from scandal, but there are many worthy men in\nthe police service.\n\nIn addition to the regular administrative officers mentioned there are\ndepartmental officers, such as an engineering corps, which has the care\nof all public works. There is the growing educational department and a\nmedical department including care of prisons, hospitals, and a great\nforestry department, that conserves the valuable forests of the empire.\nThere is also a department of marine with full official equipment.\n\nThere is a civil service system operating throughout all these\ndepartments of government, including even the most subordinate\nclerkships. The higher officials are usually brought out from some\npart of Britain, and have been taken into Government employ after\nthe severest examinations. Their promotions are given by grade and\nservice, allowing also for special promotions for distinctive service.\nHaving been so placed that I have had to do with a wide range of these\nofficials, in most departments of the service, it becomes a great\npleasure to me to record the character of their official conduct as\nI have found it in personal dealing. In the first place, they almost\nwithout exception are men of courteous, gentlemanly manners. This alone\ngoes far to smooth the way in official transactions. Then I have found\nthem generally men who are very fair and even generous in dealings\nwhere public interests, missionary matters, or property have been\ndealt with. This is partly due to the system of aid given especially\nto schools with which both the Government and the missionary have to\ndo, and partly due to fair dealing on general principles, which I\nam led to believe from an experience all over the province of Burma\nfor a period of ten years, and from inquiries from others of longer\nexperience, is a British characteristic. This is especially true of\nthe better cultivated men. The snobbery of the uneducated Briton is\nequal to that of the American of the same class. In the whole range of\nmy experience I have never met with other than manly treatment from\nofficials but twice, and then these were not of the higher ranks, and\none of them can not be said to be a Briton. If an officer might be\ndisposed to be unfair, he knows that there is a superior above him that\nis ready to correct any abuse. But the whole system of Indian service\nis well worth study, for it is not a creation of a day, but the best\nfruit of England\u2019s extensive colonial experiences. In this matter it\nis well worth study, especially on the part of America, which has now\nto enter upon the rule of large and distant possessions. It is also to\nbe noted that the wonder of England\u2019s Government is that she has been\nable to allow of a diversity of Governments in her several possessions\nsuited largely to local conditions, so that no two of her colonies are\nentirely alike, and yet she has been able to give protection, justice,\nand the largest measure of liberty to each country that the people are\nable to utilize for their own good. In these respects it is only fair\nto say her system of Government over remote and diverse peoples is the\nbest yet seen on this globe.\n\n[Illustration: BURMESE FESTIVAL CART]\n\nThere is also a striking feature of the Government of municipalities\nin India. Municipalities have not wholly self-government, yet they\nare so ordered that the popular will has a representation, even when\nit retards the actual progress of the city, as it not infrequently\ndoes. The municipalities are governed by commissioners, about half\nof whom are elected by the people, and the other half are appointed\nby Government. The latter are not Government officers, however. They\nmay be as democratic in their votes as any member of the municipal\ncommittee. But these commissioners are representative of the different\nnative races, as well as the Europeans in the city. In a city like\nRangoon there are several great race divisions that are recognized on\nthe municipal committee, both elective and appointive. In the election\nof these commissioners appears one of the most extreme examples of the\ndemocratic principles that the writer knows of anywhere. Perhaps it\nhas no parallel. In the case of the ballot, it is allowed freely to\n_all Europeans and Americans_ on exactly the same conditions. They, as\naliens, never having become British subjects, and never intending to do\nso, _have the ballot the same as an Englishman_. This broad democracy\nhas greatly surprised many Americans when I have told them of it. The\nalien has a right to hold the office of city commissioner, if elected,\nthe peer of the native-born Briton. This is the broadest democracy\nfound anywhere within the defined limits of franchise.\n\nThe Government has a vast system of railroads in India amounting to\nsixteen thousand miles, with many other extensions and new lines in\nprospect. These roads now reach nearly all the districts which could\nsustain them. They are sometimes built for military purposes, but they\nare mostly directed for the carrying of traffic in times of peace.\nThe province of Burma, one of the later provinces to be thoroughly\ndeveloped, is having railroads to all its principal sections, and\nsome of these roads are being projected to the very borders. That to\nKunlon is extended to the borders of China. They also talk of a line\nfrom Rangoon through Western China, and there is every likelihood\nof connections direct with Bengal. So the old world moves under the\nimpetus of Western enterprise. The telegraphs attend the railway, and\nexist even far outside of railway lines to all parts of the empire and\nto foreign lands. Let it be remembered that probably none of these\nimprovements would have been thought of in the country had not it been\ntaken in hand by an enlightened and enterprising people from the West.\n\nGreat systems of canals have been constructed, and more than thirty\nmillion acres of land are irrigated, and famine in this area is forever\nforestalled. Larger plans are being suggested by the recent famine.\nThe famine relief works constructed many tanks on land too high for\nirrigation from running streams.\n\nGood pavements in cities and good roads have been made in the land\nuniversally. These roads are nearly all metaled and kept in good order.\n\nPublic buildings of the most substantial and imposing kind are built in\nall capital cities. The Government wisely erects buildings in keeping\nwith its own governmental ideas, and with its declared intention of\nremaining in the land to work out its plans. The public parks and\ngardens are on an elaborate scale, and are enjoyed by everybody.\nThe memorials to great men of India and the great men who have made\nIndia British territory are placed in all public gardens. Great men\nand great deeds are set before the world as they should be, that the\nworld may emulate them. The latest design is to build a memorial to\nQueen Victoria in the city of Calcutta, to which many of the rajahs of\nIndia are subscribing. The building is to cost perhaps more than five\nmillion dollars, and while it is a great memorial to Queen Victoria, it\nis to be a museum of great men of India as well. There will be other\nmemorials established in other cities of the Indian Empire also. The\ntaxes of the Government are reasonable. They are mostly placed directly\non the earning power of the individual, or tax upon land assessed in\nproportion to the amount of grain it produces, There is also a tax on\nhouses in villages outside municipalities. The land tax is very just.\nIf the land produces regular good crops, it is taxed accordingly. If\nthere is a failure of crops, the tax is reduced or remitted. As land\nneeds rest, it is allowed a tax at fallow rates, which is very light\nindeed. The income tax is collected chiefly in cities, but of all\nGovernment employees, beginning with the viceroy. This tax is two per\ncent per month. This is to be paid out of the monthly salary. But it is\nsaid this tax only reaches one out of three hundred and fifty of the\nnative-born inhabitants of India.\n\nThe Government claims to own the land, very much as the American\nGovernment owns the public lands. But, of course, the greater part of\nthis land comes into the ownership of the people, and is transferable\nas elsewhere in the world. In the comparatively rich province of\nBurma, where there has been until recently much of the very best land\nof the tropical world lying idle, grown into grass and forests--land\nthat never was cultivated, the land is given out freely to would-be\ncultivators. They only have to show that they are prepared to cultivate\nit. They have to pay nothing but for its survey. When it is cultivated\nthey get a title to it, and then they can sell it as the actual owners.\nIf it is grass land, the cultivators are allowed one year exemption\nfrom tax. If forest land, ten years are allowed exemption. A more\nliberal plan could not be devised than this. It is just here that\nEngland\u2019s policy in the country is shown. If a Burman asks for a piece\nof land, and a European, any Englishman indeed, asks for the same\npiece of land, the Burman will surely get it. One becomes more and\nmore convinced that the policy of Government in India is to govern for\nthe best interests of the Government. There is another great plan of\nGovernment to aid agriculture. The people of all parts of the Indian\nEmpire are chiefly agricultural. They are like all Asiatics, great\nborrowers of money. They generally mortgage the crop by the time it\nsprings out of the soil. The native money-lender demands as much as\nthree per cent a month; but here the Government comes forward, and\nagrees to loan the agriculturalist money at six per cent a year, and\nallow him to repay it in partial payments. This is eminently fair, and\nany man can get it who can show that he can repay it, and can give two\npersonal securities. This seems a very liberal proposition.\n\nThe Government has also devised a great school system to aid in popular\neducation. The schools of Southern Asia have been almost entirely\nin the hands of the various religions of the land. The Government\nhas undertaken to work out a plan by which a very large part of this\neducation can be put under popular control, and yet be allowed to\nremain under the direction of the various religious communities that\nconduct schools. Of course, under the old order there was but a small\npart of the community allowed to go to school, and the teaching was of\nan inferior kind. Government would promote education and give a fixed\nstandard. To do this they had to put the secular instruction of all\nschools under the Government, and allow the religious instruction to\nbe carried out according to the ideas of every society concerned. So\nthat we witness Mohammedan, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist schools,\nall drawing aid from Government, and all passing the same Government\nexaminations in secular subjects, but each imparting its own religious\ninstructions. To aid in this educational scheme, the Government will\ngive grants in putting up buildings, in paying accredited teachers, and\nin giving grants to current expenses on passes secured in Government\nexaminations. In addition, the Government has built up certain schools\nentirely under its control, where no religion is taught.\n\nIn all this it will be seen that the Government, in keeping with its\ndeclared purpose and position, is neutral in the matter of religion. It\nought to be clear to all who will see it, that the Christian Church\nshould avail itself of all this educational plan that is possible, so\nas to mold the minds of all the young in Christian principles. Nearly\nall mission schools are identified with this educational system, but\nthere is opportunity for much more of the same kind of work.\n\nThere is another great and merciful arm of Government to be mentioned.\nIn every municipality, and even in large villages, there is hospital\ntreatment for all who need medical or surgical aid. All this is freely\ngiven to every applicant.\n\nAll cities and large towns have great hospitals where medicines\nand food and shelter in bad cases are given freely to men of all\nraces and creeds. No disease is turned away, and no sick man denied\nattention. This charitable effort of Government is far-reaching in its\nbeneficence. It is not so valuable as it might be, because it has a\nprejudice of the populace to deal with. But the amount of suffering\nthat is relieved by Government in all the empire is enormous.\n\nIn cases of epidemics there is a Government order to fight the disease\nin an organized way. If it is smallpox, which is very prevalent,\npublic vaccination is enforced. Cholera epidemics are taken in hand\nvigorously, water purified, and quarantine established, until the\npestilence is put under control.\n\nThe last four years has called out all the agencies of a great\nGovernment to battle with the Bubonic plague and the famine. It is now\nmore than four years since the plague began its ravages in India,\nand a little over three years since the famine began its course of\ndevastation. Both of these dire visitations were grappled with from the\nstart, and the battle is still being waged.\n\nA competent board of physicians and a large force of skilled nurses\nwere quickly organized, and they have been unremitting in their\nefforts, and many of these have fallen victims to their difficult and\ndangerous duty. A system of inspection was at once established on all\nrailroads and steamship lines throughout India and along its coasts.\nEvery traveler, irrespective of race or rank, has been examined by\nmedical experts. Yet in spite of this precaution the deadly scourge\nhas insidiously worked its way almost throughout the empire. But still\nthe Government grapples with the pestilence. One can feel something of\nits terrors when it is noted that ninety-four per cent of all who are\nseized by the plague die. Six hundred thousand have died of the plague\nin five years. The greatest hostility has been shown at times by the\nnative population, in opposing the most necessary plague regulations.\n\nWith plague almost all over the empire, the Government had at the same\ntime to undertake a most extensive plan for relieving a famine that\nwas ever undertaken by any Government in human history. The famine\nhad only one immediate cause--the lack of rain. The greater rains\nover almost all India occur between June and September. For years on\noverlapping territory the rains failed, or were deficient. The world\nknows the story. One-fourth of the nearly three hundred millions of\nthis population of the empire were in the terrors of famine, with\nits slow starvation of man and beast, with its attendant cholera,\nplague, and other diseases. It is worthy of cordial recognition and\nperpetual memory that this gigantic specter was met by a Christian\nGovernment. It was not a Mohammedan or Hindu people which fought back\nthis monster calamity, but a Government and a people whose sympathies\nwere Christian. The Christians hurried to the relief of those of\nnon-Christian belief and alien people, and hardly thought of their\nrace or religion. They only knew they were starving communities of\nfellow-beings, and they put forth supreme efforts to relieve their\nhunger and other ills due to the famine. Yes, this was done by a\nChristian Government, aided by private Christian beneficence of distant\nlands, while their own co-religionists, having money in many cases,\nowning nearly all the grain in the empire, enough to have fed all the\nhungry at every stage of the famine, gave practically nothing for\nfamine relief! They held their feasts, organized their tiger hunts,\nlooked on the dance of the impure nautch-girl, and reveled while their\npeople starved and died, or owed their life to a foreign race of the\nChristian faith.\n\nThe Government of India spent $92,650,000 on famine relief during 1899\nand 1900. The relief works were open nearly two years before that,\nand help on a large scale continues still. This is the most gigantic\neffort of all human history to meet a great national calamity. Strange\nthat these noble and statesman-like efforts should have been belittled\nby any, much less by some who should have known better.\n\nThe census of 1901 has been gathered, and these columns of figures tell\ntheir sad story of suffering and death in the famine districts. Of\nIndia\u2019s two hundred and eighty-six millions of ten years ago, sixty-six\nmillions were residents in native-protected States. The census of 1901\nshows that British India increased its population by ten millions,\nwhile the peoples of the native States decreased three millions.\nBritish territory increased its population by four and one-half per\ncent, and the-native States decreased by four and one-half per cent.\n\nA close inspection of the figures shows the decrease to be largely due\nto the famine. What would have been the death-rate but for the English\nGovernment\u2019s immense relief?\n\nThe missionaries worked hand in hand with the British officers, and I\nhave never heard that either has ever spoken except in words of praise\nof the other\u2019s labors. This proves that good Governments and faithful\nmissionaries are invaluable to each other.\n\nA crowning proof of the good government of Britain in India, is in\nthe fact that her population does not migrate to any adjacent State\nwhere there is limited or unlimited native rule. But from all such\nStates there is a steady stream of immigration pouring into British\nterritory. None of India\u2019s peoples migrate in any numbers to any\nOriental or Occidental country, but from every Oriental land there\nare immigrants to sojourn or to settle in India under the justice,\nprotection, and peace of British rule.\n\nThe tropical world is fast coming under Western domination. These lands\nmust be lifted by new blood from the North and West, and must serve\nthe needs of our race. While this process is going on, the world can\nafford to be happy over the fact that so large a part of the tropical\ncountries is under British rule.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Notes\n\n\nPunctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a\npredominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they\nwere not changed.\n\nSimple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation\nmarks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left\nunbalanced.\n\nIllustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs\nand outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support\nhyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to\nthe corresponding illustrations.\n\nThe first illustration is the cover. The illustration on the Title Page\nis a photograph of a woman leaning against a cocoanut tree (it is the\nleftmost part of the illustration on page 45 of this eBook). The four\ncaptionless illustrations are identical decorative tailpieces.","title":"Ten years in Burma","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":70779}