ON THE TRAIL OF THE^
AMERICAN MISSIONARY
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS
This Distinguished American Journalist is Traveling Around the World for
the Purpose of Investigating the American Foreign KVssionary from
a Purely Disinterested. Seculat and Non-Sectarian Standpoint.
Illustrated with Drawings and from Photographs.
“Gift of Tongues” Given
to Christians in India
v___J
Kedgaon, India.—I have stumbled
upon an extraordinary religious man
ifestation, as remarkable as anything
in connection with the great revival
in Wales. So startling and wonderful
is it that I feel quite unwilling to pass
an opinion upon it, so I shall simply
narrate, soberly and consecutively,
what I have seen and heard concern
ing this "baptism with fire." and pour
ing out of "the gift of tongues,” where
by ignorant Hindu girls speak in
Sanskrit, Hebrew. Greek, English and
other languages as yet unidentified.
The name of Pandita Ramabai, “the
Hindu widow's friend,” is known
among educated people all over the
world. She is the most famous of all
Hindu women. There is an Interna
tional "Pandita Ramabai association,"
which cooperates with her in her work
of rescuing, training and caring for
high caste widows. She, more than
any other woman, has made known to
the world the horrors of the child
widow’s lot in India. Herself a high
caste widow, of rare gifts and educa
tion, her appeal has been made to peo
ple of culture; nor was her work re
garded as strictly religious or mis
sionary. not being associated with any
religious body.
A World-Famous Work.
Ten years ago, at the time of the
great famine, Ramabai took hundreds
of famine orphans, and ever since she
has had about 1,400 widows and or
phans and deserted girls under her
care, as well as 100 famine boys. All
caste lines are now down, and the
whole immense work is known as the
Mukti mission, although in certain re
spects the original enterprise for
widows maintains its separate iden
tity.
Because of the fame of Pandita
Ramabai. and because of the great
ness of her work, I conceived it to be
my duty to take the hot journey out
to Kedgaon. Were it not. for the more
important incidents which follow, I
A Tumult of Praying Girls.
In a large, bare room, with cement
floor, were gathered between 30 and 40
girls, ranging in age from 12 to 20.
By a table sat a sweet-faced, refined,
native young woman, watching sober
ly. attentively and without disapprov
al the scene before her. After a few
minutes she also knelt on the floor in
silent prayer.
The other occupants of the room
tvere all praying aloud. Some were
crying at the top of their lungs. The
tumult was so great that it was with
difficulty that any one voice could be
distinguished. Some of the girls were
bent over with heads touching the
floor. Some were sitting on their
feet, with shoulders and bodies twitch
ing and jerking in regular convulsions.
Some were swaying to and fro. from
side to side or frontwards and back
wards. Two or three were kneeling
upright, with arms and bodies moving.
One young woman, the loudest, moved
on her knees, all unconsciously, two
or three yards during the time I
watched. She had a motion of her
body that must have been the most
exhausting physical exercise. She,
like others, also swung her arms vio
lently, often the gestures of the pray
ing figures were with one or both
hands outstretched, in dramatic., sup
plication. Not infrequently, several
girls would clap their hands at the
same time, though each seemed heed
less of the others. At times the con
tortions of the faces were painfully
agonized and perspiration streamed
over them. One girl fell over, asleep
or fainting, from sheer exhaustion.
All had their eyes tightly closed, ob
livious to surroundings. Such intense
and engrossing devotion I had never
witnessed before. It was full 15 min
utes before one of the girls, who had
quieted down somewhat, espied me.
Thereafter she sat silent, praying or
reading her Bible. The discovery of
the visitor had this same effect upon
Pandita Ramaoai Oongre Medhavi.
should tell at some length the story
of this great settlement, with its wide
acres of farm land, its many modest
buildings, and its varied forms of in
dustry. Study and work are the rule
for every girl; clothes for that multi
tude must all be woven on the spot,
and the industrial plant is large. An
uncommunicative English woman
guided me faithfully to every spot of
the settlement that she thought of in
terest, from the cornerstone to the
steam engine and the dying vats. But
not a word did she say that would
lead me into a knowledge of what is !
by all means the most noteworthy fact I
concerning this famous institution.
Stumbling on a Revival.
Of course, 1 was aware of the un
usual reiigious experiences reported
from many Christian communities in
India; but I had never associated this
sort of thing with Pandita Ramabai's
work; probably because some of her
foremost supporters in America are
identified with the “new theology"
which has scant room for the camp
meeting type of "old-time religion."
My first clew was a pamphlet which I
chanced to pick up. relating strange
spiritual experiences on the part of
some of Ramabai’s girls. I began to
ask questions, which were answered,
I thought, with seeming reluctance,
and discovered that this revival was
still under way.
For half an hour I had been hearing
strange sounds, now of one person
shouting in a high voice, now of the
mingled utterance of a'crowd, and now
of song. At last it settled down into
a steady roar. “What is that I hear?”
I asked. “It is the girls’ prayer meet
ing.” was the answer. “Could I visit
it?" I pointedly asked my guide, after
hints had proved unavailing. “Why—
I—suppose—so. I’ll see." In a few
minutes I found myself witnessing a
scene utterly without parallel in my
experience of religious gatherings.
half a dozen other girls during the
next quarter of an hour. At my re
quest the guide after a time asked the
leader if I might talk with her, and
while a dozen of the girls were still
left, praying aloud and unaware of
the departure of the others, the leader
withdrew.
A Strange Story.
My first interest was to know wheth
er the girl3 had been "speaking with
tongues" that day, for I had thought
that I detected one girl using English.
Yes, several of the girls had been
praying in unknown tongues, this
young woman quietly informed me.
Then, in response to my questionings,
she proceeded to tell me that these
meetings are he'd twice daily bv girls
who have been "baptized with the
Holy Spirit and fire;-’ it is.common
for them to speak in tongues which
they do not understand, and also to
be smitten dumb, so that they cannot
speak at all, even in their own lan
guage. During the early part of the
meeting at which I was present, one
of the girls had been obliged to write |
her message, because her tongue was |
hoiden. Sometimes the girls will go j
about their tasks for days, unable to 1
utter a word, although they under- i
stand perfectly everything that is said :
to them, and are able to pray in other
tongues, and when they especially !
pray for the power to do so they are ■
able to sneak in religious meetings.
The girls show no effect whatever of j
the terrible strain they undergo dur- !
ing these prayer meetings, and they
all do their regular daily work. The
burden of their prayers is intercession,
that all the mission, and all India,
may be converted and experience a
great revival and receive the Pente
costal baptism. So much I learned
from this young woman.
The Most Famous Indian Woman.
Ramabai herself is a quiet, strong
personality She dresses after the
Hindu fashion, but in white. anC her
hair is short, for she is a widow. She
elects to sit on a low stool at the feet
of the person with whom she con
verses. for the sake of better hearing.
While we were talking her grown
daughter, Monorumabai. her first as
sistant in the work, sat on the floor
with her arm about her mother, and
occasionally interjected a pertinent
word. Ratnabai (the suffix “bai,"
means “Mrs." or “Miss") speaks sim
ply, naturally and directly. So she
told me of the growth of Shadai Sa
dan, the work for widows, and one of
the Mukti mission, the whole support
ed by faith
"We do not make a special point of
the gift of tongues; our emphasis is
always put upon love and life. And
undoubtedly the lives of the girls
have been changed. About 700 of
them have come into this blessing.
We do not exhibit the girls that have
been gifted with other tongues, nor do
we in any wise call special attention
to them. We try to weed out the false
from the true; for there are other
spirits than the Holy Spirit, and when
a girl begins to try to speak in another
tongue, apparently imitating the other
girls, without mentioning the name or
blood of Jesus, I go up to her and
speak to her, or touch her on the
shoulder, and she stops at once;
whereas, if a girl is praying in the
Spirit I cannot stop her, no matter
how sharply I speak to her or shake
her.”
The wonderful Gift of Tongues.
"My hearing is peculiar," continued
Ramabai, “in that I can understand
most clearly when there is a loud
noise (a well-known characteristic of
the partially deaf I and I move among
the girls, listening to them. I have
heard girls who know no English make
beautiful prayers in English. I have
heard others pray in Greek and He
brew and Sanskrit and others in lan
guages that none of us understands.
One of the girls was praying in this
very room (the room of one of the
English staff) a few nights ago, and
although in her studies she has not
gone beyond the second boob, she
prayed so freely and clearly and beau
tifully in English that the other teach
ers, hearing, wondered who could be
praying, since they did not distinguish
the voice.” "Yes,” spoke up the occu
pant of the room, "and she prayed by
name for a cousin of mine whom I
had forgotten, and of whom I had
never once thought since coming to
India."
When I asked why, in Ramabai's
opinion, tongues that served no useful
purpose being incomprehensible to
everybody should be given, whereas
the gift of tongues on the day of Pen
tecost was so that every person in
that polyglot multitude should hear
the story in his own speech, she re
plied, “I, too, wondered about that.
But it has been shown to me that it
is to rebuke unbelief in the gift of
tongues, she herself has been given
the gift.”
All these wonders 1 have set down
impartially, as phenomena of great
interest to all who give thought to re
ligious or psychic themes. Neither
Ramabai, nor the native teacher who
led the meeting which I described, is
an emotionalist, so far as I could per
ceive. Both, in fact, are persons of
more than ordinary reserve, culture
and discernment, nor can 1 explain
the relation between what is happen
ing at Mukti and the revivals that are
being reported from various parts of
India, most of them characterized by
astonishing confessions of sin, on the
part of Christians and by prolonged
and even agonized prayer, with pro
nounced physical emotion.
Making Presbyterians Dance.
There has been a pronounced phys
ical side to the demonstrations, as I
found at Kedgaon. Entire audiences
have shaken as if smitten with palsy,
strong men have fallen headlong to
the ground. Even . lepers have been
made to dance. Leaping, shouting,
rolling on the floor, beating the air
and dancing, have been common. Con
cerning dancing, Bishop Warne said,
'Personally, I have not seen much of
the dancing: that is reported as most
ly having taken place in Presbyterian
churches!” It is a fact that the dig
nified Presbyterians, even the Scotch
church missions, have been foremost
in these revival experiences.
The revival 1.-3 continued in various
parts of the empire for more than a
year; I have reports from Lucknow,
Allahabad, Adansol, Moradabad, Bare
illy. Khassia Hills and Kedagaon. The
Methodists baptized 1,900 new con
verts during the year, besides the
notable result of having secured more
than 300 new candidates for the min
istry.
Dramatic In the extreme have been
the confessions of sin, and restitution
therefore, and the reconciliations be
tween enemies.
Everywhere there is agreement that
the lives of the people have been mark
edly altered for the better. "The
revival,” says one, "has given India a
new sense of sin.” The sirontaneous
composition of hymns has been a
curious feature of some meetings;
Bishop Warne thinks that “there will
be a new hymnology in the vernacu
lar as an outcome of this revival.”
While columns more could be writ
ten concerning incidents of this re
vival, there is only room here to add
that it must not be assumed that all
of India is being stirred by these
events. Many churches and missions
are strangers to them, and the Euro
pean population of the country as a
whole know nothing about them. Yet
it is the conviction of those who claim
to have received the Pentecostal bap
tism that all of India is to be swept
by a fire of religious revival. Some
even say that they have been given
direct supernatural assurance of this
fact.
(Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
NEW VEGETABLES IN MARKET.
Hostess Has Opportunity to Serve
Novelties to Her Guests.
The hostess who likes to serve
novelties at her table should make
the most of the odd vegetables and
fruits now on sale.
The yam, or Brazilian sweet patato,
is increasing in favor. One exhibited
recently in the window of a fancy i
grocer was more than a foot in length, j
with an average circumference of ten
inches. The price asked was 75 cents.
Any recipe for the cooking of the
sweet potato may be applied to the
yam. It should be boiled first and
salted, when it is ready for serving
in any of several different ways.
A tropical vegetable now shown is
the chayarette. It is somewhat sim
ilar in general shape to the green pep
per. It Is, however, more fleshy in
side, and in color is a very faint
green, almost white in some places.
The chayarette should be boiled
first, then sliced, rolled in crumbs
and fried. When so served the ap
pearance is not unlike diminutive
slices of fried egg plant. Served cold
and mixed with green peppers and
celery the chayarette may be used as
a salad.
The Egyptian melon is another con
spicuous novelty of the fruiterer and
fancy grocer. Fine specimens of this
melon may be seen suspended in a
network of cord in some of the win
dows.
The melons range in price from
$1.50 to three dollars, and as a large
melon may be served to a dozen or
15 persons the price asked is not as
high as might at first appear.—Chi
cago Journal.
WAYS OF PREPARING FRUIT.
Apples and Pears of Great Value. Both j
Cooked and Uncooked.
These fruits are both useful and
wholesome. An apple eaten raw the
first thing in the morning will be bene
ficial to those who suffer from consti
pation. Baked apples are also good
for the same purpose, and are easier
of digestion than when uncooked.
They are very good for children for
either breakfast or supper, and may be
varied by sometimes simply baking
them on a tin, and afterwards sprink
ling them with sugar; and at others,
peeling, taking out the cores with an
apple corer, filling the hole with sugar
and putting a few cloves and a little
water into the jar; when filled with i
apples, tie it over with brown paper
and put in the oven till the apples are
cooked. Some sorts take so much
longer than others that we cannot
give time ror them. Pears cooked in
the same way are very nice. Apple
tea is a very pleasant drink, much ap
preciated by children. It is made by
boiling apples, cut in half, with suffi
cient w'ater to cover them, some
sugar and thin lemon rind; the apples
should be quite soft, then put into a
colander for all the liquid to run from
them. When cold, add a little lemon
juice, and more sugar if needed.
Library Convenience.
In the library of a well known
scholar are some bookshelves, with
an attachment which is ideal for a
person who expects to use books for
reference. Under the shelves, about
2” inches from the floor, is a recess
the width of the shelves, and about
two inches high. In this is a flat
board, the width of the shelves and
of the same wood, which can be
pulled forward by putting the hand in
a groove in the front lower edge. This
serves as a shelf on which to lay a
book, which is being used for refer
ences for a few moments, or to lay
out a number of them when some one
is looking up a particular subject. All
the bookcases are made in this way
and every one who has occasion to
use them finds the shelves a great
convenience.
Celery Jelly.
Celery jelly is an attractive basis
for fancy salads. Cut up the outer
green stalks and to one cupful of cel
ery use one pint of water with one
teaspoonful of salt. Cook until soft,
add one-quarter of a bos of gelatin
that has soaked for half an hour in
half a cupful of cold water; strain
through a jelly bag and mold. When
solid cut out the center and fill with
the salad. Two oranges, two bananas
and two apples diced form an attrac
tive salad to serve with th*e celery
jelly.
Lemon Butter. ,
Grated rind and juice of one lemon,
three-fourths cup of sugar, one scant
teaspoon butter. Put juice, grated rind
and sugar in a saucepan, set on stove
in a dish of boiling water. Beat an
egg and when the sugar is melted
and sirup hot stir in egg and stir mix
ture until it thickens, then stir in
butter and remove from fire and put
dish in cold water. Stir occasionally
until cold. This will keep several
days.
Hamburg Meat Cake.
The meat wants to be somewhat fat.
For one round of meat use two slices
of stale bread soaked in a little water
and press out, not too dry; add one
egg. Chop small onion and cook in
tablespoonful of butter. Don’t let it
burn. Mix well and season highly with
pepper and salt. Make Into small
balls.
King’s Pudding.
Two cups bread crumbs, one-half
cup suet or butter, one-half cup mo- j
lasses, one egg, one teaspoon of soda, j
one-half cup sweet milk, one-half tea- !
spoon cloves, one teaspoon cinnamon, !
pinch of salt; boil or steam like a loaf J
of brown bread two hours; serve with J
lemon or hard sauce.
'FIGHTING BOB” EVANS
Rear-Admiral Robley Dunglison Evans, better
known as "Fighting Bob,” will probably be known
to history as the man who went to the Pacific
ocean in command of the most powerful fleet that
ever entered these waters, a fleet powerful enough
to have made mince-meat both of Admiral Rojest
vensky's squadron and the Japanese fleet that sent
it to the bottom with workmanlike dispatch, and
no one who knows “Bob” doubts that he would
dearly love such a fight.
Evans went into the naval service when he
was 16. When the civil war broke out Evans was
nearly persuaded by his mother to resign from the
service to fight for the south with his brother. He
reconsidered in time, however, and did valiant
... mi ij otrivurtr iui lutf uuuu. wut? ui ms legs was riuuieu
with shot, and the surgeons were going to ampu
tate it, in spite of his protests, when he pulled a six-shooter from under his
pillow and threatened to kill any surgeon who approached him. He finally
recovered, but still walks with a limp.
Although all his life he had shown himself the very embodiment of a
fighting bull terrier, he got this nickname in an expedition in which not a
drop of blood was shed. He was sent to Chili to enforce reparation for an
attack on American sailors, and he bluffed the Chilians into good behavior
without firing a gun. Then he became "Fighting Bob.” All the fighting he had
done in that affair was with his jaw tackle, no contemptible weapon, consider
ing his flow of quaint and original profanity.
This faculty of using emphatic language has got him into trouble at
times, notably at the battle of Santiago, when he remarked to those around
him, “Spanish will be the fashionable language in hell to-night," a remark
which was denounced from the pulpits of the country for its lack of good
feeling and good taste. But whenever there was any special service to be per
formed. whether it was to receive a British or a German squadron with
princes on board to be put to sleep at the dinner table, or a fleet to be taken
to the other end of the world, the navy department has always turned to
"Fignting Bob," and he has always kept up his end of the log.
FRIEND OF CORTELYOU
Frank H. Hitchcock, first assistant postmaster
genera], is believed to be the man who forced the
hand of President Roosevelt and caused him to
issue his proclamation declining to be a candidate
for a third term. This he did, according to Wash
ington gossip, by telling southern officeholders to
elect delegates pledged to Roosevelt but expected
to vote for Cortelyou when the president with
drew.
Mr. Hitchcock has been the friend and con
fidant of Secretary Cortelyou. and whenever the
latter has been promoted to a new post, his first
act has always been to pull Hitchcock in after
him. He pulled Hitchcock into one department
after another; to the national Republican com
mittee as assistant secretary, back to the govern
ment service again,, and would have taken him
to the treasury department but for the protests of the other members of the
cabinet, it is said. It is said too, that if Cortelyou got the presidential nomina
tion Hitchcock would get a cabinet job. Hence, it is not a matter for surprise
that Hitchcock should take a lively interest in the affairs, political and oth
erwise, of Secretary Cortelyou. It was his methods that some of the other
presidential candidates objected to—or rather the methods attributed to him.
Mr. Hitchcock is a man with the head of a business man, the acuteness
of a trained lawyer, the frame of an athlete and the nose for news of a born
newspaperman. While President McKinley was being badgered to intervene
in Cuba Mr. Hitchcock, then in the department of agriculture, brought out a
report, showing how much the trade of the United States was suffering from
the continuance of the Cuban insurrection While the war was in progress he
was getting out reports on the natural resources of Cuba, Porto Rico and the
Philippines And it has been so on every occasion. He has always risen to an
emergency.
MEXICO’S FINANCIAL SAVIOR
Jose Yves Limantour, minister of the treas
ury of Mexico, the man who carried Mexico
through the disastrous panic of 1893 and made her
rich and prosperous, has been decorated by the
French government for her services to mankind,
making about 50 decorations he has received from
different countries.
Although nothing of a politician, Mr. Liman
tour has been in office since 1892, when he be
came sub-secretary of finance under Senor Rom
ero. The equalization of finance was a ques
tion which Romero did not understand, but his
assistant made a study of it to such purpose that
he soon became a recognized authority, one of
the greatest financiers in the world. When he
succeeded Romero in 1893 he found his country
bankrupt, the deficit amounting to about $3,000,000
each year. The exterior debt alone amounted to $50,000,000 and paid interest
at the rate of 6 per cent. The country was without credit and loans were sub
scribed under the most humiliating conditions. The panic arrived, and to
add to his troubles there w as a general failure in crops.
Limantour converted the annual deficit into a surplus, with which he
formed a reserve that now amounts to $100,000,000. He abolished the Al
cubales, an interstate customs tax, and allowed trade to flow freely from one
end of the country to the other, he increased the federal revenues by $25,000,
000 a year, he furnished schools for the children, he introduced the most mod
ern sanitary arrangements into the federal district, he reduced the taxes, he
recompensed the owners of estates that had been confiscated, he prohibited
free coinage and made the peso redeemable in gold, and he improved the
credit of the country to such an extent that Mexican bonds find ready buy
ers ac low- rates of interest.
WORLD’S MASTER SCIENTIST
Lord Kelvin, who died recently at his London
home, has been regarded as the world's most dis
tinguished scientist for 40 years. Although a
master in many departments of physics and chem
istry, his successes in telegraphy, particularly ma
rine or cable telegraphy, probably have brought
him the greatest renown.
Lord Kelvin's name forever will be linked
with the laying of the Atlantic cables, not only
the original cable, but several others which were
sunk during the ten or fifteen years following
the initial experiment. When the problem of ocean
telegraphy was first presented to the world there 1
were few scientists who looked upon it as solV- 1
able. Most of them, indeed, scoped at the idea
and said it was visionary. Lord Kelvin was then
a you:’" man. tie was at uiat ume plain wunam
Thomson. He was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1S24, and in 1855, when the dis
cussion about connecting the two continents with a metal wire was hottest,
he was only 31 years of age.
The dynamical theory of heat early engaged the attention of Thomson and
in the iate '40s and early '50s ho wrote freely about it. in 1855 he published a
paper on “Electro-dynamic Qualities of Metal,” and it was while engaged in
experimental work in this field that he was brought face to face with the
mysteries of communication by electric wires.
There was no scientist capable of mastering this problem, or, at least,
none had the courage to announce himself until the young Irishman, who
always, by the way, has been claimed by the Scotch, modestly stepped for
ward and agreed to try. He invented various instruments, among which was
the mirror galvanometer, first used in connection with the 1858 cable. In 1867
the siphon recorder was invented and patented. On the successful completion
of the Atlantic cable in 1S66 Thomson was knighted.
Lord Kelvin was showered with honors by all nations. He was president
of the international Niagara commission, and has visited America often.
