66 not to be insulted in the street by any man I will now see whether the authorities will protect me against any man who feels himself at liberty to abuse me at pleasure.' The people were all excitement. and I said; Bring him at once to the Amildar, and we will see if he persists in this conduct towards me, who have done nothing to provoke his anger." At once the man was led away towards the main street, followed by the entire mass, who were now greatly excited, to know what would become of the matter. We had not gone very far when a respectable man, a friend of ours, came out of breath and entreated me to spare his relation, who was a bad fellow, and had done very wrong in usi g abusive language to an English gentleman. I said, "If before all these people," who had increased to at least five hundred, he will confess that he has done wrong, and will never again speak to me in the streets. I will forgive him" But no, his proud spirit could not submit to this, though his increasing fear was every moment becoming more apparent. I said to the policeman, "Bring him to the Amildar." and having proceeded a little further, the man's friend again entreated me not to take him before the anthorities. I replied, "If he will ask forgiveness, and confess he has done wrong, I will forgive him but if not, I will not allow him to escape till I have known the mind of the Amildar, Seeing me determined in my purpose, and feeling that we were drawing near to the cutcherry, and that the people were staring upon him in every direction, he became greatly excited and alarmed. Before the multitude I then catechized him to the following effect :-"Have you done me an injury in abus ng me in the public street, and in interrupting me in the discharge of my duty ?" Sir, I have " "Will you promise me never to speak to me again in the street, or inturrupt me when preaching?" "I will promise Now then, before all these witnesses I forgive you, and never wish to see your face again, but as a friend." I then dismissed him, and was thankful enough that I had gained a victory before five or six hundred people, without having appeared before the authorities. The effect of this proceeding was almost magical! The news of it flew all over the Pettah, and from that time to this, our congregations have been better, more attentive, more interesting; and in scarcely a single instance, since that time, have these characters interrupted us in the streets." 66 There may, we think, be a difference of opinion as to the wisdom of the Missionary in having recourse to the authorities for protection against mere abuse. Nor do we think that the result would have been worse, if Mr. Hardey's mercy had been less strained," and had dropped more like the gentle dew from heaven; had he for example, professed a free forgiveness, without insisting on an apology, and assigned as a reason for his so act, the precept and example of his Divine Master. The following is a good illustration of the perversion of the first principles of morality that prevails among the great mass of the Hindu community : Mr. Muller once appealing to a man's conscience, with respect to the rewards of good and evil, was answered by the following story: A certain butcher bought a cow, tide her by the rope, and was about to bring her home, when on a sudden she broke loose and ran away. In running after her he met a man, who in his whole life time never told a lie and on is asking him, whether he had seen his cow he was told by him, that if he followed this road he was sure to get her. On went the butcher; not far off he met another man, who in his life time never told the truth, and putting the same question to him, he was told, that he was quite in the wrong road, and that he must go to the left if he wished to find his cow. After this, both these men died, they were called before the judgment seat of God (Yumana) and the final sentence was, that the latter, because he had saved the life of the cow by telling a lie, was rewarded with being born twenty times a king: while the other, who by telling the truth would have caused her destruction was condemned for twenty life-times to be gnawed by worms. Confounded and perverted ideas like these are constently met with, and though they are absurd enough to confute themselves, yet the poor people applaud and adopt them with superstitious fondness. The following little sketch will please those of our readers who appreciate aright the importance of the Gospel : There was an old Guru or priest, a few miles from Madura, a man of great influence amongst the people, who was consulted on all occasions of difficulty and regarded as the oracle of the country round. Cothes on which he had breathed or his hand been placed, were taken to the sick that they might recover; and mantras and charms were repeated by him in order to cure them He was looked on by all the people as a man of great power, and to maintain his dignity and authority among them always had a silver wand carried before him. Amongst others he had heard of the missionaries in the district, and was accustomed for years to read Christian books which they had distributed. Indeed, he had quite a small library, kept as usual in an earthen jar, but the words of truth had made no impression on his mind. One day, when w lking in the bazar, he heard a catechist re ding a passage from the Gospel of Luke. It struck him most powerfully. "What is that you read ?" he instantly asked; "read it ag in." The catechist read it. "What a wonderful thing," exclaimed the guru, where do you find it ?" "It is written in Luke, a Christain book, a portion of our Bible," "Why, I have go Luke and have read it; but I never saw this statement, kindly read it again." The next day he sent for the catechist and requested him to read the wonderful passage once more. From that hour he received the Gospel with ut reserve : experienced the greatest joy in his belief, and continued happy till his death. His religion however was not acceptable to his friends and disciples: his sons were perfectly aghast when he told them of his change of faith, and did all they could to induce him to give it up. "What a pity,' said one, "that so much learning should make a man mad." They reproached him, and prosecuted him continually. Often when he was on the way to the missionary, they would fetch him back and compel him to forego his visits. But he persevered, bore all the opposition with great patience, and looked forward with confidence to a secure repose in heaven. He lived thus for five years his death was hastened by a chronic complaint, produced by some drug which he had taken in former days from a sannyasi, that he might be able to fly! He earnestly begged of his sons that he might be buried instead of burned: they complied with his request, and arrangements were subsequently made for putting a monument upon the grave. We should like to extract our author's account of the Shánárs, but it is too long for the limits of our present notice; as also his statement on the much agitated question of caste in the native church, but this also would lead us into a discussion, for which we cannot now afford space. We therefore conclude for the present with an account of the converted Shánárs, which is given in answer to the question: WHAT KIND OF CHRISTIANS ARE THEY. ? Few questions are more important than this, since a fair upright answer will shew in few words the real value of the Shánár missions in relation to the grand object for which missions are carried on. The materjals however for giving such an answer have been amply provided. The missionaires in their annual reports enter into numerous details of the spiritual state of their flocks; and both Mr. Caldwell and Mr. Pettitt, in their accounts of the Tinnevelly stations, deal with the matter in the most straightforward terms. An impatient friend may ask : Do you mean to say that all the 52,000 Shánárs now called Christians are converted men? Certainly not; the wildest enthusiast never imagined such a glorious fact least of all has any one acquainted with the missions endeavoured to make such an impression upon the minds of their friends. The missionaries, who know the state of things thoroughly, tell us in their reports, and I heard the same thing from their own lips on the spot, that these converts are divided, in regard both to their knowledge of the Gospel, and their personal character, into THREE CLASSES? : The first or lowest class includes a very large number of converts who are stil unbaptized. These persons are candidates for baptism; who desire to enter the Christian community, but at present know little of Gospel truth. They learn the appointed catechisms; attend public worship; and are required to live in general as members of the Christian community. But much cannot be expected from them as to spirituality of mind, or consistency of conduct. The second class are those who have only been baptized. They are reckoned a still under instruction; but it is generally seen that their conduct is influence to a considerable extent by the Bible law. They of cour-e possess much more Christian knowledge; they had made an open profession: gross sins are not allowed to pass among them unreproved; and as they have a character to maintain in the community, they occupy a much higher position as to morality than they did among the heathen. A large proportion of this class are of course children. The third class the smallest of all, contains the communicants called in some missions, the Church members. They number altogether 4,500 out of the 52,000, or about nine per cent. of the whole. These Christians rank highest both in knowledge and character. They are spoken of in the same terms as village converts in Bengal or the Mysore and they are treated in the same way. All the missionaries watch carefully over the consistency and fidelity of those who are admitted into this body. The standard of admission is not the same in all cases. With some missionaries that standard is high. In the London Mission for instance it is so raised that the Church members form only four per cent. of the whole. Some of the Tinnevelly missionaries, as Mr. Cæmmerer, adopt I believe a similar standard and administer a strict discipline. Good as many of their communicants are, they are all seen to be weak, especially the more ignorant; traces appear in their conduct of their old habits, old superstitions and old heathen rules. How could it well be otherwise, considering the origin whence they sprang, and the inveteracy of habit everywhere. Many of them live most consistent lives, and in contrast with their neighbours adorn the Gospel. Catechists, schoolmasters and others of age and experience, appear generally as they ought to do the most consistent. Young men and women from the boarding schools, who have learned most, whose minds and hearts have been most cultivated, as a class, stand out higher than others, and it is hoped, will as they grow older become worthy leaders of the important community to which they belong. During my visit, I had the pleasure of twice meeting Bible classes of young women at Nagercoil and Edeyenkoody, who displayed a very clear and complete knowledge of the Word of God. They were all trained in the boarding schools, and though they have now left them and have families of their own, they regularly attend the classes which are maintained specially for their benefit. All the girls' boarding schools that I examined gave promise of like success. : Anecdotes illustrative of the character of these Christians could easily be multiplied. Zeal for others is not a distinguishing feature of native piety, but it has been exemplified among them. I will mention a single case, belonging to one of the newest stations. At Santapuram there is a poor man, a Pulliar of the lowest caste, who since his admittance into the Church has been very industrious in getting his own class to attend the means of grace. His wife and sister and another relative have, through his means, all been brought into the Church and two others have lately been baptized. His sister lately learned to read the New Testament: she is the only Pullian female of adult age that ever did so in Travancore. The man is like a father and priest among his people, warning, instruc.ing and comforting them and is greatly esteemed every where. At the same station there is a poor man who has three times fallen from palmyra trees His chief peculiarity is that he has never been known to tell a lie or to deceive. So implicitly is his word believed, that in cases of dispute it is common to hear people say ; "If Gúnamudeyan says it, I will believe it :" or, "Whatever Gúnamudeyan says, I will abide by." : We may haply return to Mr. Mullens's book, when we can do it more justice. Meantime, we commend it to the perusal of our readers as a clear and interesting statement of facts relating to a most important work. Songs of the East. By Mrs. W. S. Carshore, Calcutta, 1855. IT is somewhere remarked in one of the early numbers of the Tatler, that, should any of the papers appear dull, the reader is to consider it as intended, and so enjoy the joke as well as he can. In how many of our modern works, might the same warning be prominently put forth. We should say that it was applicable to the work before us, were it not that, being the production of a poetess, she may claim exemption under the law of unconsciousness; which has of late come to play so important a part in Theories of Poetry, and works on Criticism. Who is to know when a poet is dull and when not? Who is to presume to judge of the productions of one, so far removed above ordinary prosaic mortals, whose creative fancy is so largely developed, that he may disguise himself under any shape, assume any form, and, with more than a Protean power, at once be and not be, or with a supernatural ubiquity exist under many forms at one and the same time. It is impertinent then of ordinary beings like ourselves to come to such a work as this, guided by the ordinary laws of criticism, for there may exist in it beauties of a high order, not discernible by our blinded and un-elevated imagination. And yet there is much in the Songs of the East to recommend them to Indian readers. Their most attractive feature is the sunlight of calm domestic gentleness thrown over the whole. Had the title page not shewn it, you would have immediately said, this is a woman's work, nay more, a wife's and a mother's, it springs from the inner nature of one who has tasted the sweets of family joy, and has filled the many offices of family life. It lacks the still deeper flow 66 of virtuous passion so well painted by Rogers, because it proceeds from a woman's heart, nor is it so severely simple and truthfully descriptive as the Tales and Poems of Crabbe, because the writer has not enjoyed the same opportunities for acquiring an extensive knowledge of human nature as he had, for as she apologetically confesses, she was born and reared on an Indian soil," but it comes upon us all the more pleasantly now, as the tendency of our modern school of poetry is rather to the boisterous and extravagantly ideal. After such intensified productions as those of the school of the great laureate Tennyson, all too unworthy of him, after such gigantic beauties and vices as those of Bailey, Alexander Smith, Massey and Bigg, so well hit off by Ayton in his satirical tragedy of Firmilian, it is refreshing to come into contact with such gentle productions as these Songs of the East, written in the isolation and domestic happiness of an Indian life. But yet if the intense school of poets run riot in the excesses of an uneducated fancy, those of Mrs. Carshore's class are apt to fall into the opposite extreme of tame lifelessness and frigidity, almost amounting, as in many of the poems before us, to an utter absence of the vis poetica. The authoress, herself, with a becoming modesty, seems to feel this from the statements in her too apologetic preface. The usual plea of the overpartial admiration of friends is adduced, as well as a real longing for poetic fame, and a desire to "give a more correct idea of native cusAs to the toms and manners" than Europeans yet seem to possess. first of these inducements, it would be difficult to say how much of the "partial eyes" of friends, and of the vain-glory of an Authoress, who naturally adores her own fanciful offspring, were mixed up in the resolution to publish this volume. The second is a most becoming and praiseworthy desire in a woman anywhere, but especially in one in India, where literary pursuits so often serve, to dissipate the tedious idleness of camp life, and to soothe the soul harassed by busy intercourse with the world, but the question should have been first seriously asked, is this volume likely to advance my object, Of course we to give me the fame that I so legitimately long for? must distinguish between the poetess and the woman, when, after reading the preface, we come upon such verses as these :— "What is so pleasing as a father's praise? Be this my highest aim-away, away Ye dreams of fame that mocked my earlier days, A taper which attracts blind envy's dart A breath may quench, a cloud obscure its ray, She We think too, that Mrs. Carshore fails in her third object. does not add much to the stock of even a stranger's knowledge of The poems that at all relate to Indian manners and customs. India are few, and her allusions in them to Orientalism still fewer. Exception may be taken even to her note on the Beara Festival, in which she strives to correct Tom Moore, who had at least more book-knowledge and more heart-knowledge of the East than herself. The man who wrote Lalla Rookh, had more vividly realised the actual places, and knew more accurately every spot and every scene, than a thousand unimaginative poetasters, who have since striven to copy him. And so with Southey too, in whom the objective more predominates, and whose Curse of Kehama is a mine of at once Eastern lore and beauteous poetry, that no critic has ever exhausted, nor ever will exhaust, until we have another Southey. As a specimen of her Indian pieces, we give a description of the well known Tityghur : Fair Tityghur ! whose ever verdant shores, Whose green banks mirrored in the glassy tide, Sweet nook, where peace and bliss sequestered dwell, Removed from vain ambition's toilsome round. Say, with what lingering looks I bade farewell |
