What a disgrace to put upon a human being made in the image of God! Shame on the religion of Siva which upholds and fosters such wickedness. Under English rule the Pariahs have liberty to go and come as they please; but they are everywhere scorned and oppressed.

They have some queer customs.

Often poor tree climbers own only a single cloth.

In order to wash this they ask the washerman, and he
does not refuse, to lend them the cloth of some other
person which he has taken to wash, while he takes and
washes theirs; thus it is not an uncommon thing for one
to see his cloth, which he has sent to be washed, worn
on the person of a stranger. The
washerman stands knee-deep in water
and bleaches the garments by knocking
them over the stones, swinging them
over his head as a thresher does his
flail; to dry them he spreads them by
the road-side on the hot sand, and
places a few stones on the corners to
keep them from blowing away. He is
rarely paid in money, but is generally
given the leavings of table food and a
little rice and curry stuffs.

We told the two little boys, whose names we learned were Kassappu and Kadpeyal, that if they would come the following day, with their bodies bathed and their hair nicely combed, we would go with them our

WASHERMEN.

14

Breaking down Caste Barriers.

selves to the school. The first thing which I saw on looking out of my window early the next morning was the two little boys watching for me. I went with them to the school, but could hardly induce the little fellows to enter; they fairly trembled with fear as they stood in the presence of higher caste boys. After years of persistent effort, the missionaries have succeeded in inducing the children of a large number of castes to study together in the schools, though it is amusing to see the highest caste boys sometimes bringing little mats with them on which to sit, and so preserve their tottering dignity. The teacher, a Christian native, willingly promised to receive and do his best for the little boys. We passed through the school bungalow with its thatched roof, where the higher standards were studying, through the veranda where the middle standards were reciting, and came into the yard, where, under the trees, sat twenty or more little boys busily engaged writing out their lessons with little sticks in the sand.

I motioned Kassappu and Kadpeyal to sit down with the others, when lo! as quick as lightning, these twenty little naked morsels of society scattered on all sides as if they had been poisoned, crying, "Cha! Cha!" while one gave the youngest little boy a vicious pinch, and another actually spat at them. How strange that children five and six years old could imbibe and cherish such bitter prejudices !

The two little boys sat that day in a corner of the yard by themselves, but the next day brought word that the whole school was threatening to leave, and even the Maniagar or head man of the village had sent word that, if these low-caste boys came, he would not allow his child to come. I decided that rather than break up the school I would for the present teach the boys myself. This storm of public sentiment was a great surprise to me. The upper caste said, "If this caste be educated, who will do our washing?"-the old spirit of slavery which has only lately been wiped out in our own land.

The little boys came to our veranda each day for a lesson, and learned well, mastering the 247 letters of the Tamil alphabet with surprising quickness. They learned many things outside of their books, among others to say "Good morning," and "Thank you." One day we showed them a picture-book. They had never seen a picture before in all their lives, poor things, but when I pointed out to them the children and trees and animals in the pictures, they caught at the idea. You should have seen their delight, and have heard their shout when they themselves discovered a cat and a dog.

One day, while they were with us, a class of fourteen large boys, whose Bible lesson in English my sister had kindly offered to teach through the term, came in. When they saw these two poor little washer-boys they fairly glared at them. Sister said, "Why do

It is

you look so angry?" They answered, "Those boys have no right to come here. They are low caste. If we should take up a little stick they would run from us. not the custom of the country to show them any attention." That is the excuse here for every kind of evil practice. "It is the custom of the country, ma'am." Sister went up to the little boys, and putting her hand on the head of the older, said, "God made this little boy as well as you. He gave to him an immortal soul as well as to you. Jesus Christ died to save him and you. You will both stand together in the judgment. God says He hates pride, and if you are proud and despise this little boy for whom Jesus Christ died, you sin against God."

The next day the school boys did not come, and the reason given was that my sister had disgraced herself by touching these boys of a low caste, and they did not wish to be taught by such a person. We said nothing, knowing that the class enjoyed coming too well to deprive themselves of it long. And we were right. They came the following morning with a shamefaced look.

Kassappu and Kadpeyal continue to come to us, and are just the brightest, funniest, most affectionate little boys I ever saw. They are philanthropic little fellows too; for finding themselves well received, and expanding under kindness like flowers in the sunshine, they came bringing three other little boys and two little girls, who they insist, with all earnestness, must also learn to read.

What a shame that all their caste, from no fault of their own, should practically be shut out from social privileges, and condemned to be always poor, ignorant, and despised, with no bright future before them in this life, and with no prospect in view for the life to come, according to Hinduism, but to live again on earth, perhaps as an insect or a snake!

In contrast with all this how should we thank God for giving to the world His dear Son, a Saviour to the poor and the lost! The sight which I saw a few days ago, of three hundred Christian natives sitting down without regard to caste at the common table of our Lord, gave proof of what the Gospel has done, and a promise of what it will do yet more abundantly in this land.

As sure as God's word is true, so surely may we rely on the promise, "The whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God."

CHAPTER IV.

FIRST YEAR'S REVIEW.

Manepy, December 16th, 1880.

IME has flown so swiftly of late that I cannot realize that it is a year and three months since we left America, nearly a year since we landed in

Jaffna, and ten weeks since we came to Manepy. This year has been the busiest, and I think, all things considered, the happiest year of my life. I can truly say that I have never for one moment regretted my coming to Ceylon, but have felt thankful to God for permitting me to be a co-labourer with the missionaries in this land.

As you may know, there are over 300,000 people in North Ceylon. Labouring among them are two families under the English Church Mission, two under the English Wesleyan Mission, and five under our own; which allows an average of over 30,000 people to each missionary family. What would any pastor at home think of such a charge?

Manepy is one of the smaller stations, and we have within its boundaries only about 10,000 people.' There are two Christian churches - one here at the station, the other at Navaly-numbering together one hundred and four communicants. There is one pastor, and another to be ordained very soon. As helpers, there are

1 A short time after this the station of Panditerippu also was given into our care.

Work at Mancpy.

17 two catechists and two Bible-women. These do much faithful house-to-house work in the villages, hold cottage meetings and Sabbath services, and assist in our large tent-meetings. The church-members, as a whole, are active and earnest. They have surprised us by their willingness to co-operate with us and act upon our suggestions. As far as I have means of knowing them personally, I am led to think that they are truly God's children, really changed by the Holy Spirit. The missionary work would not have been a failure here had it done nothing more than save and bless these men and women.

We have within the Manepy district eight Sabbath-schools, with thirty-four teachers, and an average attendance of eight hundred scholars. Three of these have been organized during the last two months, and all have increased in their attendance. The station Sabbath-school has increased from not quite one hundred to two hundred and thirty-five, and will, I hope, number three hundred before New Year's Day. If you could look in upon us with our eighteen teachers and classes nicely graded, our "International Lesson Leaves," and Sankey's hymns in Tamil, our organ and blackboard, you would forget for the moment, I think, that you were in a heathen land.

There are in the Manepy district ten day-schools, supported mainly by Government grants, but under the direction of a Board of Education, composed of native Christians and missionaries. In these schools are thirty-one teachers, the majority of whom are Christians. This is an important field, and we hope to make the most of it. The teachers, both Christian and heathen, were delighted with our proposition to visit the schools once a week and devote an hour in each to the study of a Bible lesson. We sold several hundred copies of the Gospel of Matthew in Tamil, selected a verse of scripture to be learned and a portion to be read each day, secured the co-operation of the teachers in teaching the lesson every day during the first hour in the morning, and mapped out the schools for our weekly round of visits.

The plan has succeeded thus far beyond our highest expectations. The teachers have entered heartily into it, for they feel that our weekly visits will prove a real encouragement to the schools and an honour to themselves, so highly are the missionaries esteemed throughout Jaffna. The moment we are seen approaching the school, all lay aside their books, and when we enter they rise and give us salaams. The seats have been already arranged, and we take our different classes and go over the different lessons of the week, which have been so well prepared that only once have we had reason to complain. We try to make the lessons enjoyable, and slowly, but surely, we hope to win our way into the confidence of the children, and make them our friends. The aim of all our efforts is to win them to Jesus Christ.