Far Off Part 11

The tents of some English soldiers were pitched in a lonely part of India; and the night was dark, when an officer's lady thought she heard the sound of a child crying. The lady sent her servants out to look, and at last they brought in a little girl of four years old. And where do you think they had found her? Buried up to her throat in a bog, her little head alone peeping out. And who do you think had put her there? Her cruel mother. Yes, she had left her there to die.

This child gave a great deal of trouble to the kind lady who had saved her, nor did she show her any love in return for her kindness; and after keeping her about two years, the lady sent her to a missionary's school.

You see how cruelly mothers in India sometimes treat their children.

Their religion teaches them to be cruel.

A mother is taught to believe that if her babe is sick, an evil spirit is angry. To please this evil spirit, she will put her babe in a basket, and hang it up in a tree for three days. She goes then to look at it, and if it be alive, she takes it home. But how seldom does she find it alive!

Either the ants or the vultures have eaten it, or it is starved to death.

When there is a famine in the land, many mothers will sell their children for sixpence each: and if they cannot sell them, they will leave them to perish.

One missionary received fifty-one poor starving children into his house: they were always crying, "Sahib, roti, roti;" that is, "Master, bread, bread." But the bread came to late too save their lives; for all died except one.

Yet these sick children were very wicked.

One of them stole a bra.s.s basin, and sold it for sweetmeats. Though very kindly treated, some of them wished to escape; and to prevent it, the missionary tied them together in strings of fifteen;

There is a tribe in India called Khunds; and they sprinkle their fields with children's blood, and they say this is the way to make the corn grow. The English government once rescued eighty poor children from the Khunds, and sent them to a Christian school. What miserable little creatures they were when they arrived! but they were soon clothed and comforted; and taught to hold a needle, and to know their letters; and, better still, to p.r.o.nounce the name of Jesus. Like these poor little captives, we were all condemned to die, till Jesus rescued us, and promised everlasting life to those who believe.

THE ENGLISH IN INDIA.

There are many rich English gentlemen living in India: some are judges, and some are merchants, and some are officers in the army. They dwell in large and grand houses, with many windows down to the ground, and a wide verandah to keep off the sun. Instead of _gla.s.s_, there is _gra.s.s_ in the windows: the blinds are made of sweet-scented gra.s.s, and servants outside continually pour water on the gra.s.s to make the air cool. Instead of _fires_, they have _fans_. These fans are like large screens hanging from the ceiling, and waving to and fro to refresh the company. Instead of carpets there are mats on the floor; and round the beds gauze curtains are drawn to keep out the insects.

The servants are all Hindoos, and a great number are kept; and this is necessary, because each servant will only do one kind of work.

Each horse has two servants, one to take care of it, and the other to cut gra.s.s: even the dog has a boy to look after it alone. The servants do not live in their master's house, but in small huts near. The place where they live is called "the compound."

When English people travel they do not go in carriages, but in palanquins. A palanquin is like a child's cot, only larger; and there a traveller can sleep at his ease.

The men who carry the palanquins are called "Bearers." The nurses are called Ayahs. Babies are carried out of doors by their ayahs, but children of three or four are taken out by the bearers.

There was once a little girl of three years old who taught her bearer to fear G.o.d.

Little Mary was walking out in a grove with her heathen bearer. She observed him stop at a small Hindoo temple, and bow down to the stone image before the door.

The lisping child inquired,--"Saamy, what for, you do that?"

"O, missy," said he, "that is my G.o.d!"

"Your G.o.d!" exclaimed the child, "your G.o.d, Saamy! Why your G.o.d can no see, no can hear, no can walk--your G.o.d stone! My G.o.d make you, make me, make everything!" Yet Saamy still, whenever he pa.s.sed the temple, bowed down to his idol: and still the child reproved him. Though the old man would not mind, yet he loved his baby teacher. Once when he thought she was going to England he said to her,--"What will poor Saamy do when missy go to England? Saamy no father, no mother."

"O Saamy!" replied the child, "if you love G.o.d he will be your father, and mother too."

The poor bearer promised with tears in his eyes that he would love G.o.d.

"Then," said she, "you must learn my prayers;" and she began to teach him the Lord's Prayer. Soon afterwards Mary's papa was surprised to see the bearer enter the room at the time of family prayers, and still more surprised to see him take off his turban, kneel down, and repeat the Lord's Prayer after his master. The lispings of the babe had brought the old man to G.o.d: Saamy did not only bow the knee, he wors.h.i.+pped in spirit and in truth, and became a real Christian.

CHIEF CITIES.

There are three great cities which may be called English cities, though in India: because Englishmen built them, and live in them, and rule over them. Their names are Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.

The capital city is Calcutta. There the chief governor resides. Part of Calcutta is called the Black Town, and it is only a heap of mud huts crowded with Hindoos. The other part of Calcutta is called the English town; and it consists of beautiful houses by the river-side, each house surrounded by a charming garden and a thick grove.

Madras is built on a plain by the sea, and is adorned by fine avenues of trees, amongst which the English live in elegant villas and gardens. Here also there is a Black town. It is very hard to land at Madras, because there is no harbor.

Bombay has one of the best harbors in the world. It is built on a small island covered with cocoa-nut groves.

Now let us compare these places with each other.

_Calcutta_ boasts of her fine river, but then the ground is flat and marshy; and therefore the air is damp and unhealthy, and there are no grand prospects.

Madras is very dry, and sandy, and dusty; but then there is the sea to enliven and refresh it.

Bombay has the sea also, besides the groves, and at a little distance, high mountains, which look beautiful, and which it is delightful to visit. There are no such mountains near Calcutta or Madras.

These are the chief English cities. I must now speak of the favorite city of the Hindoos.

It is Benares on the Ganges.

You might go from Calcutta in a boat, and after sailing four hundred miles, you would reach Benares. The Hindoos say that it was built by their G.o.d Sheeva, of gold and precious stones; but that, as we are living in a bad time, it _appears_ to be made of bricks and mud, though really very different. They say that Benares is eighty thousand steps nearer heaven than any other city, and that whoever dies there (even though he eat BEEF!) will go to heaven.

A missionary once reported a Hindoo for telling lies. The answer was, "Why, what of that? do I not live at Benares?" The man thought he was quite safe, however wicked he might be.

In walking about Benares a stranger might be surprised to meet every now and then a white bull, with a hump on its back, without a driver or a rider, or any one to keep it in order. You must know that a white bull is said to belong to the chief G.o.d of Benares, and it is considered a sacred animal, and is allowed to do as it pleases.

And how does it behave?

It behaves much in the same manner as a child would who had its own way.

The white bull helps itself to the fruit and vegetables sold in the streets, and even to the sweetmeats. It has a great taste for flowers; and it cunningly hides itself near the doors of the temples, to watch for the people coming out with their garlands of marigolds round their necks.

At these the bull eagerly s.n.a.t.c.hes with its tongue, and swallows them in a moment. Finding it is petted by every one, it grows so bold, as to walk into the houses, and even to go up the stone stairs on to the roof, where it seems to enjoy the cool air, as it quietly chews the cud.

In the spring the white bulls like to wander out in the fields to eat the tender green gra.s.s. A farmer finding one of these bulls in his fields, made him get into a boat, and sent him by a man across the river Ganges.

But the cunning creature came back in the evening; for he watched till he saw some people setting out in a boat, and then jumped in; and though the pa.s.sengers tried to turn him out, he would stay there. In this way he got back to the cornfields.

So much respected are these bulls that a Hindoo would sooner lose his own life than suffer one of them to be killed. An English gentleman was just going to shoot one that had broken into his garden, when his Hindoo servant rushed between him and the bull, saying, "Shoot me, sir, shoot me, but let him go." You may be sure that the gentleman did not shoot the servant, and I think it probable he spared the bull's life.

There is one more city to be noticed.

DELHI was once the grandest city in India, and the seat of the great Moguls, those Mahomedans who conquered India before the British came. The ancient palace is still to be seen: it is built of red stone; but its ornaments are gone; where is now the room lined with crystal, the golden palm-tree with diamond fruits, and the golden peac.o.c.k with emerald wings, overshadowing the monarch's throne?

The Persians have stripped the palace of all its gorgeous splendor.

We have now described the two most numerous nations in the world, China and Hindostan. They contain together more than half the world. In some respects they are alike, and in some respects they are different. In these respects they are different.

IN CHINA. IN HINDOSTAN.

There is one emperor. There is no emperor, and the English govern the country.