\cA. 
 
 nivS*. 
 
 MissiONAny Leaflet No. 6. 
 
 /Vlcdical /Wission Worl( 
 
 IN 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 VERSONAL EXPERIENCES 
 
 BV 
 
 W. J. WANLESS, AL. U. 
 
 ' Miraj, India 
 
 Price, ten cents each: .W. 00 per dozen: $7.50 
 per 100, postpaid. 
 
 W. B. JACOBS, 
 
 132 La Salle St., Chicago, III. 
 
MEDICAL MISSION WORK IN INDIA. 
 
 PEB.SONAL EXPERIENCES BV 
 
 W. .T. Wanless, M. D., Mira.i. 
 
 The Object of this Pamphlet. 
 
 “And the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a 
 memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of 
 Joshua,” Ex. 17: 14. The object of this command 
 was plainly to strengthen the heart of God’s 
 people Israel, and to encourage the heart of God’s 
 servant Joshua. It was to be written for the en- 
 couragement of future generations, and rehearsed 
 for the stimulation of holy activity in the then so- 
 journing children of the promise. God is to-day 
 making war with the Amalekites in India, while 
 the church at home is by prayer staying up the 
 hands of her representatives on the field of ac- 
 tion. The missionary’s hand is often heavy, but 
 he blesses God for the staying-up power of the 
 faithful and persistent props of God’s praying 
 children at home. It has been my privilege to 
 belong to the little missionary army in India, and 
 now for the encouragement of the helping Aaron 
 and Hur in the home land and the glory of our 
 Blessed Leader, I am led to write what 1 have 
 already been privileged to rehearse in the ears of 
 some of God’s people since coming home on fur- 
 lough, in order that, if possible, their hearts may 
 be encouraged by the 'recited victories, which 
 God through their efforts is winning, as “He 
 makes war with Amalek from generation to gen- 
 eration” ip that still dark land. 
 
 Missionary Obstacles. 
 
 Before referring to personal experiences illustra- 
 ting the influence and value of the medical mission 
 work — the work in which I have been privileged 
 to engage during the past five and a half years 
 in Western India — I would like to refer briefly to 
 
— 3 — 
 
 the chief obstacles which confront the mission- 
 aries of the cross in India, in their effort to make 
 known Jesns as the only Saviour of men, especial- 
 ly since it is in overcoming these barriers to the 
 spread of Christian truth that the medical mission 
 is being abundantly blessed of God. 
 
 Practical Ilinduisin. 
 
 In Hinduism and its practice are included 
 these chief obstacles. A religion should be judged 
 by its fruits, rather than bj' its doctrines or philos- 
 ophy. I want to say to begin with that Hinduism 
 — Mohammedanism, too — as practiced and seen in 
 India are not the Hinduism and Mohammedan- 
 ism proclaimed and heard at the World's ^"'ongress 
 of Religions. During these years in India I have 
 had abundant opportunity to study the people in 
 their every day life and religion. I have gone 
 into hundreds of their homes, and have come into 
 personal contact with them in almost numberless 
 ways, not only as a physician but as a citizen, a 
 friend, and laborer for and with them. Hinduism, 
 as I have seen it in practice, consists largely of 
 three things; I. The worship of idols of which 
 there are three hundred and tlyrty millions in 
 India. II. The keeping of festivals or feast daj’S. 
 III. Adli^'ence to caste dictates and caste rules. 
 
 Idolatry and its Practice. 
 
 1. With reference to the worship of idols, it has 
 been said that the Hindu does not worship the 
 idol, but God in it. This is the argument only of 
 the educated Hindu, when accused of idolatry 
 (even now thousands of these very people try to 
 apologize for their idols), but 90% of the people 
 have no such idea. They worship and fear the 
 piece of wood and stone thej’ call their god, and 
 having consecrated it, would not allow a Christian 
 to lay hands on it, much less break it. Almost 
 every implement that is a means of personal or 
 pecuniary gain is an object of worship. Thus 
 the carpenter and mason worship their tools, the 
 cartsman his cart and bullocks, the children at 
 school their books and slates, and so on, in addi- 
 tion to the worship of numberless other inanimate 
 objects and animals. Images are found in every 
 
— 4 — 
 
 Hiiulii liome and in the court-j'ard of almost every 
 Hindu dwelliiiff. I know of a village with 1,300 in- 
 habitants in which are over 100 public shrines. 
 
 Temples the Hoi-beds of Vice. 
 
 Idolatrj' is the mainstaj' of the temples, and 
 coupled with temple idolatry is licentiousness 
 of the foulest kind. It is bad enough when a 
 daughter goes astray of herself, bui when in obedi- 
 ence to the teachings of the Hindu scriptures as 
 taught and inculcated by the temple priests, the 
 mother consecrates her child to temple harlotry 
 from her birth, j-ou have an example of thu fruits 
 of Hinduism. Listen to this. It is an extract from 
 the “Hindu,” a leading anglo-vernacular paper in 
 India, and concerning the priestly teachers of 
 Hinduism, it says: “Profoundly ignorant, as a 
 class, and infinitely selfish, it is the mainstay of 
 every unholy, immoral and cruel custom and 
 superstition in our midst, from the wretched 
 dancing girl, who insults the Deity by her exist- 
 ence, to the pining child-widow, ' ev('ry hair of 
 whose head shall stand up against us who tolerate 
 it in the Day of .ludgment. And of such a priestly 
 class our womeif are the ignorant tools and help- 
 less dupes.” 
 
 The Effects of a Degraded Priesthood. 
 
 No wonder the people revel in vice and in- 
 variably consider it perfectly proper to lie, bear 
 false witness, or commit almost any sin and con- 
 sider it justifiable in order to escape personal 
 loss or punishment. No wonder a devout man 
 worships idols all morning with one hand — so to 
 put it — and the rest of the da3’ takes bribes and 
 defrauds with the other. No wonder the object 
 of all religious devotion, so called, is personal 
 gain, little caring who is the loser therebj'. An 
 educated Brahmin once came to me, and when 
 asking me to give him a receipt for monej’ which I 
 never received, in order to secure the amount to be 
 falselj' stated in the receipt, and on hearing m3’ re- 
 fusal to comply with his request, said: “Doesn’t 
 the Bible sa3’ that it is right to lie in order to help 
 a man out of the mud? Our Scripture does.” 
 
Verily the worsliip serves tlie creature more than 
 the Creator. 
 
 OhHcene Festivals Ajiproted bij Hindu Sacred Books. 
 
 II. Now concerning their festivals, they are 
 too numerous to mention here; they are invariably 
 associated with idolatrous practices, and fre- 
 quently with the rankest vice and open shame. On 
 one of these feast days the gods are supposed to 
 be asleep, and worshipers’ passions are therefore 
 without restraint, hence any and every sin is per- 
 fectly proper. Speaking of this festival, one of 
 their most modern sacred scriptures, the Dharm 
 Sindhu, quotes approvingly from the .Totirnibandh 
 which says: “()f the fifteen days from the fifth 
 day of the bright half of the moon, to the fifth 
 day of the dark half, ten are infinitely meritorious. 
 During these days wood and cow-dung cakes should 
 be stolen and kindled either in or outside the vil- 
 lage with fire stolen from the liouse of a low caste 
 man. The king having bathed and purified him- 
 self, should give gifts and light the Holi fire. In 
 the same way the people should spend the night 
 in pleasures, singing and dancing. Pronouncing 
 obscene words, they should walk around the fire. By 
 these obscene words, the sinful goddess, Dhundha, 
 will be satisfied.” In one place I know of, they 
 dance around a temple for hours in the night, 
 practically nude. The Dharm Sindhu adds that 
 no sin is committed by these acts and words, 
 and the philosophy of this as e.xplained is that 
 this goddess is a lover of sin, and therefore it 
 must be right to appease her by that which is 
 sinful. Not only do they “commit such things,” 
 but have pleasure in them that do them. 
 
 Caste the Masterpiece of Satan. 
 
 III. As to caste, with its 30,00U sects, it is well 
 known that it is a great barrier to all true knowledge 
 and human charity. It is Satan’s masterpiece in 
 India to prevent the spread and acceptance of the 
 gospel. It teaches man to hate and despise his 
 neighbor, while Christianity teaches man to love 
 not onlj’ his neighbor but his enemy also. No 
 wonder a prominent Hindu in Madras recently 
 declared that the only hope for the depressed 
 
— C — 
 
 cliisses of India is in Christianity, for, said lie, 
 “ Hindu caste and religion are botli contrary to 
 the education and elevation of the lower classes.” 
 Caste confronts and prevents all true progress as 
 well as missionary work in every form; not only in 
 domestic but also in social and political life. 
 
 It is, briefly, a pernicious and malignant mon- 
 ster that for ages has woven into its iron meshes 
 almost every phase of Hindu life. It is the hide- 
 ous reptile that still holds India within its awful 
 coil of darkness and wretched superstition, in the 
 end only to cast forth her sons into eternal despair 
 and death. 
 
 Effect of Caste — A Case. 
 
 I shall have occasion later to refer to caste, by 
 way of illustrating the value of the Medical Mis- 
 sion. .lust here I will conclude my reference to it 
 by a case or two illustrating its effect upon educa- 
 tion. A Christian boy was admitted to a govern- 
 ment high school where the pupils were mostly 
 Brahmin and high caste boys. The parents of 
 the Hindu boys became very angr^' and threat- 
 ened to remove all their boys from the school. 
 They got up a petition to the educational in- 
 spector recpiesting the removal of the Christian 
 boy from the school. The inspector refused their 
 request, as there were none but caste reasons for 
 the boy 's dismissal. The parents then complained 
 that the e.xcessive bathing consequent upon the 
 pollution caused by the presence of the Christian 
 boy in the school was resulting in severe colds — 
 the boys, meanwhile, took the opportunity to 
 spend their time swimming in the river, of which 
 they were excessively fond. Finally, when they 
 found the inspector would not listen to their com- 
 plaints, they carried out their threat and removed 
 all their boys from the school. For a few days 
 there were four Hindu teachers and oiu' Christian 
 boy. Some of the boys afterwards returned and 
 the parents of others started a jji'ivate school. 
 The educational inspector then threatened to 
 close the government school, whereupon all the 
 bo3'S returned and the private school was aban- 
 doned. The temple priests are the fathers and 
 exponents of this wretched system. What 
 
musi th(‘ schohu'S bo wlieii these are llioir in 
 structors? 
 
 .1 Loathsome Ceremony. 
 
 One of their Pundits of the World’s Congress 
 fume was Itimself made to go through li'.e degrad- 
 ing ceremony of swallowing the five products of 
 the cow after returning to India, in order to atone 
 for the fictitious sin of visiting America, and by 
 which to be restored to caste. The Brahmin priests 
 of Miraj demanded three hundred dollars from a 
 native doctor who had been to Europe, as their 
 fee for the necessary cleansing ceremonies, such 
 as the one in Mr. Chari's case. 
 
 The Aim of Medical Missions. 
 
 When I began the study of medicine, it was 
 with the express understanding that, if in the 
 Providence of God I should go to the foreign field, 
 I should be first a missionary and secondly a phy- 
 sician. The physical needs of the world are great, 
 and greater far in the heathen world than in the 
 Christian world, but great as are the phj'Sical, 
 the spiritual needs of the world are greater. 
 The healing art is only second to the saving art, 
 and the two go hand in hand, though the former 
 must always be subservient. 
 
 “And Jesus went about all the cities and vil- 
 lages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching 
 the gospel of the kingdom and healing ever 3 ’ sick- 
 ness and every disease among the people.’’ Matt. 
 9: 3.‘). 
 
 Our Lord’s ministr}’ was thus three-fold. He 
 was Teacher, Preacher, Healer. His relation to 
 the world as evangelist is our relation to the world 
 as missionaries. As He was, so are we in the 
 world. Christ is, then, in His own life and teach- 
 ing, our authority for medical missions. 
 
 Christ the Ideal Physician. 
 
 Livingstone said “God had an only Son, and He 
 was a physician.’’ The purpose of all Christ’s 
 healing miracles was plainh" to establish the Divine 
 character of His life and mission and to prepare 
 the heart and mind for the acceptation of His 
 Divine message. This also is the aim of the Med- 
 
— 8 — 
 
 I 
 
 ical Mission. Its purpose is not only to evangelize 
 and to prepari! the way lor ev:ingelization but 
 to establish the Divine character of Christianity, 
 of which it is a part. Healing th(> body is to go 
 hand in hand with curing the soul. In other 
 words, it is the “double cure.” 
 
 Still further, we have Ills command to “Heal 
 the sick,” and the commission Christ gave to His 
 disciples to “preach the Kingdom of Cod and to 
 heal the sick” is none the less our commission, 
 though God’s natural medicines are used in lieu 
 of the healing power possessed by the disciples. 
 Such is the missionary physician's commission. 
 
 Beginning Work. 
 
 Arriving at Sangli in the West( rn India Mission 
 of the Presbyterian Church, my wife — who had 
 taken nurse training and wlio was my first helper 
 in the work — jind 1 decided that we would spend 
 our first year, at heist, wholly in the study of the 
 language, and would begin no medical work until 
 we had been a year on the field. Our second 
 year would also be given largely to the acquisition 
 of the language, though we anticipated med- 
 ical work after the first year. The sick heard 
 of and anticipated our coming, and we were not 
 on the ground eighteen hours until there were pa- 
 tients to treat. The first day half a dozen, the 
 second day several more, and at the end of a week 
 a score had begun to come daily for treatment. 
 We declared that we had neither sufficient nor 
 suitable medicine, a dispensaiy or the time to 
 treat them. We treated the first few with some 
 medicines which were at hand. But this little 
 suppl}’ was wholly inadequate for even the first 
 few dozens who came, and b.y the end of the 
 first week we sent for a more c.xteusive assort- 
 ment of drugs with which to treat what we were 
 pleased to term the simple cases that might inci- 
 dentally come. We presumed that after the few 
 who knew of our arrival had been cared for, we 
 would then be able to confine our eft’orts to the 
 language, treating now and then one who might 
 come to the bungalow, and cases of sickness that 
 might arise among the few Christian school boys 
 and native Christians on the compound. As with 
 
— 9 — 
 
 reference to other phases of the work during the 
 first year or so, our judgment was premature, 
 so liere also we had a mistaken impression with 
 reference to what we would do the first year. 
 
 Native Advertising. 
 
 A physician in India needs no newspaper to ad- 
 vertise him. Every patient successfully treated 
 is a living and widespread advertiser of the doctor 
 who is the means of his cure. Thus we found 
 that the few who had come to us spread abroad 
 the news of our presence in Sangli, and it was not 
 long until multitudes began to come from all the 
 regions round about Sangli, people afflicted with 
 every manner of disease. They came at all hours 
 of the day and often at night, and we soon realized 
 that serious inroads were being made upon our 
 time which should have been given to the study 
 of the language. "We could not now well turn the 
 people away, many of whom were coming from 
 distant villages, and our hearts went out to them 
 in their distress, especiall}’ as we thought of Him 
 who “had compassion on the multitudes,’’ and we 
 could not believe that W('re He there He would 
 have turned them awa\'. 
 
 A Dispensary Opened. 
 
 In order to economize our time we were obliged to 
 open a dispensary and to plan a dispensary hour for 
 their treatment. Accordingly for want of a more 
 suitable place.a little dispensary was fitted up in one 
 end of the school house on the compound. A bath 
 room, ."i.xS feet, with the addition of shelves made 
 out of packing bo.xes, served as a compounding 
 room, the domicile of my dear wife the dispenser. 
 Another room, 8.\T2, with a table and chair, 
 served as a consulting room. The open ground in 
 front of the school was the waiting room. These 
 ready, we began our regular work. Tin; people 
 now came in still larger numbers, and from still 
 more remote villages. They would begin to ar- 
 rive at daybreak and continue to come till ten. 
 our hour for treating them. We had meanwhile 
 secured a native Christian assistant as interpreter 
 and medical helper. This assistant, aided by 
 other native preachers, preached to and taught 
 
— 10 — 
 
 the peojile while thej’ gathered and while the\' 
 waited for treatment. Scripture texts were pasted 
 on iheir medicine bottles and tracts distributed 
 among them. 
 
 Growth and Removal to Larger Premises. 
 
 Thus before we could speak to them we were 
 able indirect!}' to preach to the people concerning 
 their spiritual infirmities, at the same time help- 
 ing their physical diseases. The work of preach- 
 ing and healing was continued for several months 
 in this way, when, as it still grew, it was found 
 necessary, for various reasons, to remove to quar- 
 ters at a distance from the boarding school. Pur- 
 suantly an old building in the city, with greater 
 space, which had been used for a school, was 
 fitted up. A new door and windows, a sink for 
 washing purposes, rough shelving for bottles, 
 packing boxes for cupboards, a cloth ceiling to 
 protect us from the dust which blew in through 
 the tile roof, and a curtain separating the con- 
 sulting and compounding from the preaching 
 and waiting room, with a few rude benches, com- 
 pleted the furnishing of these new (?) (juarters. 
 The work here now grew more rapidly than 
 ever, and we soon found, in order to keep ap- 
 pointment with the pundit and the language, it 
 was necessary often to turn people away asking 
 them to come the next day. One day I noticed 
 that a large number of the patients were from a 
 certain district. On iiuiuiring the cause, one of 
 their number replied: “All the world comes 
 here.” People in India, not unlike those in 
 America, “follow the crowd,” and this was 
 sufficient reason in this man’s estimation, for the 
 number of the sick who came from his district. 
 
 Permanent Location in Miraj. 
 
 At the end of two years, when we had acquired 
 the language, it was decided by the Mission to 
 permanently locate the medical work in Miraj, a 
 city of 2(),()6 o on the line of railway. Prior to our 
 arrival on the field, the Mission had made 
 unsuccessful efforts to secure a foothold in 
 Ibis city, owing on the one hand to the minority 
 of the Miraj chief, and olficial opposition on the 
 
— 11 — 
 
 other. A committee of the Mission was upi)oiuted 
 to select a site for our work. I had the privilege 
 of serving on this committee. In compan}- with 
 another brother we visited the place and walked 
 around the city four miles, looking at various 
 places more or less suitable. Finally having re- 
 turned to our starting point we fi.ved there on a ten 
 acre field contiguous with the city on two sides, 
 entirely open on the other sides. It was on a 
 prominent corner, high and within five minutes 
 of the bazaar. In short, a site eminently suited in 
 every respect to our proposed work and residence. 
 
 How a Site teas Secured. 
 
 Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, has said: 
 “Prayer and pains through faith in Jesus Christ 
 will accomplish anything.” We began to pray 
 and negotiate for that field. And in si.\ months it 
 was in our possession. But there was one serious 
 obstacle in our further progress which had now to 
 be overcome. Having secured what we supposed 
 was the entire field, we found on the very corner 
 of it where we wanted to erect our hospital build- 
 ing was a lot 100x200 feet, and containing a 
 dozen native houses. The land was the prop- 
 erty of the state and the twelve houses the prop- 
 erty of as many low caste natives. The funds for 
 the erection of our new buildings— which were to 
 consist of a general hospital, out door dispensary 
 and chapel attached, and physician’s residence, 
 had been promised, and we were anxious to pro- 
 ceed at once with the opening of the station. But 
 here was this land unsecured and the houses un- 
 removed. 
 
 Providential Intervention. 
 
 In the Providence of God, the prime minister* 
 of Miraj state, had, in the meantime put himself 
 under my professional care, for the treatment of 
 a chronic disease. Having found him friendly, 
 and as familiarit}' between us increased, it oc- 
 curred to me that he would be able to help us 
 secure the houses and land. Accordingly, I so- 
 licited his aid. He promised to do what he could 
 
 * The head official ot the state, next to the chief, with 
 powers akin to that of a British commissioner. 
 
— 12 
 
 to help us and I left the matter in his hands, 
 thanking him for liis interest in our case. The 
 people occupj’ing the houses were prejudiced con- 
 cerning us and we knew would demand exorbit- 
 ant prices for their houses, and the state officials 
 we also knew, would, if possible, balk our plans. 
 A few j’ears previously Rev. Mr. Graham, in Sangli, 
 had to make nine different purchases in order to 
 obtain sufficient land on which to .erect a small 
 chapel, the negotiations lasting about two years. 
 Here similar difficulties faced us. Having left 
 the matter in the hands of the prime minister, 
 and bj’ praj'er in the Lord’s hands, I went with 
 my family a few days later to another station of 
 the mission to spend the hot season. 
 
 Obstacles Removed. 
 
 One month after the date just mentioned I 
 returned to Miraj to give directions with refer- 
 ence to the digging of a well, when to my very 
 agreeable surprise and great astonishment, as 1 
 drove up to the corner, I found that every house 
 had been removed and put up in an adjoin- 
 ing part of the city, and when I came to settle 
 with the prime minister, he handed me a clear 
 title from the state for the land, and a bill 
 amounting to only a little over two hundred dol- 
 lars; the bill included the cost of the land, removal 
 and re-erection of the native houses. Had we to 
 deal with the house owners individually, and the 
 state in addition, had it chosen to be unfriendly, 
 the acquisition of this lot would probably have 
 been delayed a couple of years if not indefinitely, 
 and the cost in the end increased tenfold, to say 
 nothing of the unpleasant experiences of having 
 to negotiate with the dozen petty property owners 
 — experiences familiar to nearlj’ every missionary 
 in India. 
 
 During the digging of the well, a former owner 
 of the land sought to frustrate our purposes by 
 daily threatening the workmen and interfering 
 with the work, but God removed him from the 
 earth in the very midst of his opposition. 
 
 Another who held a second mortgage on the 
 field, tried also to prevent the digging for our 
 foundations. He made the demand for a large 
 
— 13 — 
 
 bonus in addition to the face value of his claim, 
 and threatened legal proceedings unless we paid 
 it. Of course we refused to recognize his unjust 
 demand, and in the meantime I referred tiie mat- 
 ter to the prime minister, who again aided us b^' 
 settling with the mortgagee through the kind 
 offices of the state attorney, thus again saving us 
 both time, trouble and mone^'. 
 
 Official Recognition. 
 
 Shorth' after returning from the other station 
 and previous to the beginning of building opera- 
 tions, we received for all in our station at Sangli 
 an invitation to attend the opening of a public 
 water tank, which a wealthy banker in Miraj had 
 built on the street adjoining his house, for the use 
 of his own household and neighbors. A large tent 
 had been pitched in the street opposite the draw 
 tank, the ground carpeted, a dais erected, and the 
 tent, together with the streets leading to it were 
 decorated with flags and bunting. - A procession 
 of state horses, camels and conveyances led the 
 way to the tent. We (Miss Sherman, my wife and 
 myself) arrived in a state carriage which had been 
 sent for us and were given prominent seats among 
 the state officials. Tlie audience consisted of all 
 the officers of the state and some from adjoining 
 states, the leading citizens of the town and more 
 than a thousand villagers. After the ceremony, 
 which consisted of the turning on of the water by 
 the Miraj chief, speeches were made by the donor 
 and by the prime minister. The prime minister 
 in his speech incidental!}' referred to and exhib- 
 ited the plans of our proposed buildings, which I 
 had brought over at his request. I have said in- 
 cidentally, but as a matter of fact, in speaking of 
 our proposed hospital, as another “ most desirable 
 improvement” to the city of Miraj, he said more 
 regarding our then prospective work than he did 
 of the tank, the opening of which we were assem- 
 bled to witness. Thus was accorded us a public 
 recognition and an invitation before all the state 
 authorities to come to Miraj, and the influence of 
 that recognition has never been lost in our work 
 until this day. We were finally decorated with 
 flowers and sent back to Sangli in the state con- 
 
— 14 — 
 
 veyance, through the din and clatter of the 
 crowded streets. 
 
 An Official Objeclor Won Over. 
 
 Previous to tlie last mentioned incident, the 
 mamlatdar — a native oflicial who had to do with 
 the examination of titles for registration and who 
 I found was a most unscrupulous and bigoted Hin- 
 du — was greatly opposed to mission work and our 
 settlement in Miraj. He refused at first to certify 
 to our purchase of the land though there was not 
 the slightest occasion for so doing. Overhearing 
 his remarks concerning us, I feared he would make 
 determined efforts to frustrate our puri)Ose. 1 
 immediately called upon my friend the prime 
 minister, asking his aid in the matter. A note 
 was written, while I waited, and despatched with 
 a messenger to the mamlatdar’s office in another 
 part of the city, and in less than half an hour our 
 title was on its way through the registrar’s books. 
 Shortly after we had moved to Miraj, this same 
 official’s son was taken sick with serious disease 
 of the brain. A relative, the chief native doctor 
 in the large adjoining state of Kolhapur, was 
 called, and finding the boy delirious pronounced 
 the case hopeless. In his extremity the father 
 sent for the missionary physician. I went to his 
 house, examined the boy, and stated that I be- 
 lieved the boy would recover under God’s blessing 
 and a change of treatment. Some simple reme- 
 dies were prescribed, ice was telegraphed for and 
 brought from a city seventy miles away, and the 
 treatment begun. In a couple of days he recov- 
 ered consciousness, and in three weeks was about 
 almost as usual. A few days after the boy’s re- 
 covery, one morning as 1 entered the temporary 
 dispensary which we had opened in the Miraj 
 bazaar, I found the old bigoted Brahmin listening 
 attentively to the gospel from the lips of a native 
 Christian, a man who had previously been a low 
 caste and whose very shadow that Brahmin would 
 have previouslj’ avoided. This mamlatdar sub- 
 sequently brought us a gift of nearlj- half a 
 month’s pay in appreciation of what had been 
 done for his son, and repeatedly afterward called 
 me to treat other members of his high caste fam- 
 
— 15 — 
 
 ily, most of whom have heard from us the gospel 
 message. This man has ever since been one of 
 our best friends, and has helped us in our work in 
 several wajs. 
 
 Building Difficulties and Stale Assistance. 
 
 Having secured the corner lot and the removal 
 of the houses, we began, in course of time, prepa- 
 ration for the erection of our buildings. There 
 now arose another serious difficulty with regard 
 to building materials. There was only one quarry 
 within reasonable distance from the city, from 
 which to obtain building stone. There were 
 others at a distance operated by private and petty 
 contractors. This large one, with excellent stone, 
 was owned and operated by the Miraj state. The 
 advantages of securing this building stone from 
 this quarry were at once apparent. But we ap- 
 prehended difficulty since the stone quarried had 
 always been used for state purposes onl}’. Again 
 1 sought the aid of my patient and friend, the 
 prime minister. A few daj's later he handed me 
 a list of all the stones which the state agreed to 
 furnish at greatly reduced rates. Forty extra 
 workmen were put to work to quarry the stone. 
 Building apparatus was subsequently loaned 
 us, and the work of building greatly expedited 
 and its quality enhanced, while the cost of 
 erection was reduced by fulh’ one-third. So 
 cheapl}’ were our splendid buildings erected that 
 the state overseer when, after the completion of 
 the hospital I asked him to estimate the value of 
 the hospital building, estimated it double its 
 actual cost. 
 
 A Substantial Building Economically Erected. 
 
 A solid cut stone two stor\- building, built with 
 lime and concrete floors throughout, with space 
 for fiftj’-six patients complete in every way, cost 
 only the sum of $10,000. It was not surprising 
 that the philanthropic donor, after seeing the 
 photographs of the finished building, said that it 
 was “the best investment he ever made.” In 
 many other ways this prime minister interested 
 himself in our work. During the course of erec- 
 tion he came almostdaily to see how it progressed. 
 
— IG — 
 
 brought his friends to meet us, and sent us scores of 
 patients from among his personal acquaintances. 
 In addition he made us several donations in appre- 
 ciation of my services in the treatment of himself 
 and family, and before retiring'from service owing 
 to continued ill health, secured to us in writing the 
 exemption from certain taxes and the guarantee 
 of the continued supply of building materials at 
 reduced prices, materials which were entirely 
 under state control. 
 
 Hospital Opening a Red-lMer Day. 
 
 As our hospital neared completion it was de- 
 cided to open it on the Ith of July, 1894. Accord- 
 ingly invitations were sent to the state officials 
 and other residents of Miraj and adjacent towns. 
 A large ward up stairs was suitably decorated; a 
 dais, chairs and carpets, kindly loaned b3' the 
 stale, gave the place the appearan.ee of a pleasant 
 reception hall. The Chief of Miraj was to declare 
 the opening of the new hospital, the doors of 
 which, until his arrival, were kept closed. The 
 people assembled and awaited the arrival of the 
 chief on the front verandah and the drivewaj’ 
 leading to the building, when, in company with a 
 young prince from an adjoining state, the Chief 
 drove up in his carriage, attended by his outriders. 
 As he came up the steps a silver key was presented 
 to him bj' the ten-year-old son of one of our mis- 
 sionaries. The main door was then opened by the 
 Chief. Entering the hallwa.v, he unveiled the 
 marble tablet bearing the following inscription: 
 “Presbyterian Mission Hospital, erected and con- 
 ducted by the Board of Foreign Missions of the 
 Presb3’terian Church in the U. S. A. The entire 
 fund for the erection of this hospital, together 
 with the adjoining out-door dispensar3’ and phy- 
 sician’s residence, was the munificent gift of .lohn 
 H. Converse, Esip, of Philadelphia, Pa., U. S. A. 
 ‘Inasmuch as 3'e have done it unto one of the least 
 of these m3' brethren ye have done it unto Me.’ 
 Opened July 4lh, 18!)!.’’ The Chief, accompanied 
 by the missionaries, native Christians and Hindu 
 guests, now repaired to the ward up stairs. Then 
 came the workmen who had labored on the build- 
 ings, then the villagers, who filled to overflowing 
 
 i 
 
— 17 — 
 
 the verandahs and aisles. Tiie Chief in a single 
 sentence declared the building open. Then fol- 
 lowed addresses, the principal one by the Presi- 
 dent of the Mission, Rev. J. P. Graham. His sub- 
 ject was the history and object of our mission 
 work. It was a multuvi in parvo of the funda- 
 mentals of the gospel. It was, moreover, the open 
 avowal that while the medical work to be carried 
 on in the hospital would be second to none of its 
 kind in the presidenc}', the supreme aim and 
 object of that work would be the preaching of the 
 gospel of Jesus Christ. The men who attended 
 that meeting, by invitation, were not the sort of 
 men who usually make up our audiences in mis- 
 sion chapels; yet they heard enough gospel that 
 day to save any one among them who might have 
 desired salvation. 
 
 Influence of the Work on the Prune Minister. 
 
 Mr. Graham’s address, delivered in English, 
 was then translated into Marathi bj' one of our 
 native pastors for the benefit of the non-English 
 speaking portion of the assembl}’. The ex-prime 
 minister, our old friend, came from Poona, one 
 hundred and sixty miles, to be present at the 
 opening. At great risk to his life (he had serious 
 heart disease) he made a friendlj’ speech. His 
 address, which was afterward published in sev- 
 eral vernacular papers, was criticised bj’ the Hin- 
 du press of Western India, because of its friendlj’ 
 expressions concerning our work and the cause of 
 missions generally. In his address at the hospital 
 opening, among other similar statements, he said, 
 “The man who lives according to the teachings of 
 the Bible cannot be anything but a good man.’’ 
 Mr. Chitray, the prime minister, took the trouble 
 later to defend himself and Chief, who was also 
 criticised for daring to declare the opening of a 
 mission hospital in his own capital. 
 
 While under m3’ medical care I had abundant 
 opportunity of speaking to Mr. Chitray on spirit- 
 ual things, and on one occasion presented him 
 with an English Bible. Although he suffered 
 dail}’ from repeated and excruciating pain, he 
 continued to read the Bible almost to the da}’ of 
 his death, two years later. His letters several 
 
— 18 — 
 
 limes referred to the comfort and help he had re- 
 ceived from the reading of the Scriptures. He 
 never openly confessed Christianity, and I do not 
 even claim that he was a converted man, though 
 his life was outwardly an exceptionally upright 
 one, with a number of good qualities often lack- 
 ing in professing Christians. But the influence 
 of the gospel on his character was as striking as it 
 was desirable. At his death he gave instructions 
 that no heathen rites should be performed at his 
 funeral. Being one of the best known natives in 
 Western India, his friendly words and influence 
 have, to our knowledge, helped a good many to a 
 more kindly feeling towards the work of missions 
 in general, apart from his interest in our own work 
 at Miraj, and to a more unbiased consideration of 
 the Christian religion. 
 
 A Prominent Hindu's Confession. 
 
 A few months ago before leaving India a prom- 
 inent official of Miraj made this confession to me. 
 Said he, ‘‘When you began j’our work here, be- 
 cause of the evident object of your medical work 
 being to preach and teach the gospel, some of the 
 Brahmins of the place, in their meetings, ex- 
 pressed their dislike to this phase of your work, 
 and declared that the}’ would not attend your dis- 
 pensary. They tried also to dissuade others from 
 going, but this only lasted for a short time. They 
 saw that the lower castes were receiving benefits 
 which they themselves were losing and they be- 
 gan to attend, at first singly, but now thej' mostly 
 all go. Then they determined not to take your 
 liquid medicines,” — fearing pollution from the 
 water added by Christian hands — and I remember 
 how that at first we were repeatedly asked for dry 
 medicines. These Brahmins would say, ‘‘Give us 
 the medicine dry and we will add our own water.” 
 We always treated this seeming but unintended 
 offense with kind and Arm refusal, stating that we 
 always gave the most suitable remedy, and that 
 it was to their advantage to accept without ques- 
 tion what we offered, otherwise we could do noth- 
 ing for them. ‘‘For a time,” continued this Hindu, 
 ‘‘they held out, but now they are glad of your 
 liquid medicines.” During our last year in India 
 
— 19 — 
 
 I scarcely remember being asked for dry med- 
 icines, and more than that, they would often 
 gladly accept liquid animal food prepared by us 
 in the hospital, at their expense, though their 
 prejudice regarding this in any form, is generally 
 far more intense than it is with regard to the so- 
 called polluted water. This Hindu then went on 
 to say, “ Having accepted your watered medicines 
 they next declared that they would not attend 
 your ‘pothe’ (preaching service, conducted pre- 
 vious to the giving out of medicines), first, because 
 of their dislike to Christian teaching, and second, 
 because of having to take their place and turn 
 side by side with the lower classes, but now they 
 go gladly and do what they would not have done 
 a short time ago, viz., sit in touch with outcastes 
 on the same benches and together with them 
 listen to your preaching.” 
 
 Teaching the Patients. 
 
 We endeavor to have every patient hear the 
 gospel message either in this service, by personal 
 conversation in the consulting room, or by daily 
 instruction at the bedside while in the wards 
 of the hospital. This morning service is con- 
 ducted with the outdoor patients, and as many 
 of the in-patients as are able, attend. The Chris- 
 tians meet and sing a hymn, a portion of Scripture 
 is read and explained, and prayer is offered in be- 
 half of the people, asking God’s blessing upon the 
 medicines prescribed for their relief and upon the 
 gospel messages proclaimed for the cure of their 
 spiritual sicknesses. The patients are then treated 
 in the order in which they arrive, irrespective of 
 their caste or position — of course we have some- 
 times to make exceptions to this rule in cases of 
 severe pain or dangerous suffering. The catechist 
 who is working among them as the}’ assemble, 
 usually continues his efforts after the service has 
 ended and while they are awaiting their turn. 
 Well, the Brahmins did not like this spiritual 
 medicine thus given out in this service. How 
 often I have seen them come around to the back 
 entrance to the consulting room, and ask to be 
 treated in advance of the dozens of lower castes 
 who had been waiting for several hours, while 
 
— 20 — 
 
 thej’ had just arrived. As a rule in India, the 
 Brahmin has alwaj’S the precedence over a lower 
 caste simplj’ bj’ virtue of his birth. He may go 
 late to any charitable or government institution 
 in charge of natives, and with others in waiting 
 who may have for hours preceded him, he is ad- 
 mitted without delay. This caste rule would not 
 hold with us. Remembering that we should honor 
 those to whom honor is due, we taught didacti- 
 cally and thus practically, that God is no respecter 
 of persons. We have cared for the lower classes 
 with the same care that we exercised in the treat- 
 ment of the more socially fortunate. This has 
 often seemed in itself to those poor and down- 
 trodden people, a matter of as great surprise as it 
 has been to the Brahmins whose custom it has 
 always been to ostracize and despise the lower caste 
 who in turn has lived only to submit passively to 
 the austerity and disrespect of the higher caste 
 or ruling Brahmins. This plan has won for us 
 thousands of friends among those despised classes 
 for whom Christ died, and to whom He was wont 
 first to go to. Continuing, this Brahmin Hindu 
 said: “ Your work is slowly but surely changing 
 the feelings and sentiments of the people of Miraj 
 concerning their own caste, and your religion, 
 and their treatment of your work. We Hindus 
 cannot shut our eyes to the fact that our people 
 are losing faith in their idols, and the foolishness 
 of their dead and superstitious religious systems.” 
 
 Changes in Puhlic Sentiment. 
 
 This change of feeling among the people of 
 Miraj is also illustrated in the fact, that when we 
 opened our hospital, we had to wait over a month 
 before we could get any of the higher castes to 
 come into the wards as in-patients: but within 
 three months, there were from the highest to the 
 lowest, side by side in the same ward at the same 
 time, and receiving from our hands the same 
 kindness and care and from our lips at their bed- 
 side the same gospel of love and salvation. 
 
 A Brahmin Patient. 
 
 Among those thus treated in the hospital was a 
 prominent native official from an adjoining town, 
 
— 21 — 
 
 who had previously been known to scoff at our 
 teachin<r, at the same time despising our medical 
 work. He had sought the advice of two English 
 surgeons and several native i)hysicians, but with- 
 out relief. He heard of cases like his own having 
 been cured, and, after arranging his business, 
 came into the hospital for surgical treatment. 
 During the two days he was being prepared for 
 operation, he attended our services, and while 
 walking about the hospital learned the Scripture 
 te.vt on the marble tablet in the hallwaj'. The 
 operation was successfullj’ performed, and the 
 next morning when I saw him for the first time 
 after recovering from the chloroform, he greeted 
 me with the words of the text he had learned by 
 heart: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of 
 these the least, my brethren, ye have done it unto 
 me.” While with us the Brahmin read some 
 Christian pamphlets, was taught at his bedside 
 and attended our services. He left us with a con- 
 fessedly changed view of the Christian religion, 
 and gave us half a month's salary in appreciation 
 of our medical services. 
 
 Affecting Gratitude. 
 
 The people are generally very appreciative of 
 our kindness, and they have .some amusing though 
 sincere ways of expressing their gratitude. It is 
 often with difficulty — even physical restraint is 
 actually necessary sometimes — that we can pre- 
 vent them from worshiping us, or from holding 
 our feet with their hands while they prostrate 
 themselves on the floor where we sit or stand. 
 They often look upon us as gods, and our treat- 
 ment, especially surgical operations, as miracu- 
 lous. 1 once found a bo}', upon whom I had per- 
 formed an operation, silting on the bed before his 
 father, who was teaching him to regard me as a 
 god and to worship me when I would enter the 
 ward. Of course I had to stop there and endeavor 
 to unteach what the father had taught his boy. 
 
 A Fisk Incident. 
 
 A man whom 1 had relieved of a painful abscess 
 by a slight stroke of the knife, afterward, in order 
 to express his gratitude sat up “a whole night,” 
 
22 
 
 as he said, to catch tlie solitary fish which he 
 knew to be in a certain stagnant stream. He 
 brought the fish to us in the morning, and out of 
 consideration for him we accepted the fish, had 
 it cooked and put on the table, though we knew 
 it to be poisonous. 1 need hardly say that we 
 merelj' tasted it, though we would have gladly 
 eaten it were that possible. 
 
 Thank Offerings. 
 
 We are often presented sweetmeats, fruits, veg- 
 etables, chickens, eggs, etc., by the patients. 
 One Sabbath morning a man took the novel method 
 of expressing his gratitude for the cure of a rela- 
 tive in the hospital, by distributing sweetmeats 
 to the congregation at the close of a morning 
 preaching service. 
 
 A Ilage Feast. 
 
 Another, a Mohammedan, whose wife was a 
 purdah lady (Zenana woman), and who had had 
 her thigh amputated in the hospital, gave us a 
 breakfast one morning on our own table in our 
 own bungalow. We supplied the dishes and he 
 brought the food already cooked from his own 
 home. The table was literally covered with the 
 eighteen different dishes, all clean and temptingly 
 prepared. Each dish was labeled with the ver- 
 nacular name and the English translation. After 
 the breakfast this man and his brother-in-law 
 brought flowers and garlands and decorated us, at 
 the same time perfuming us, according to their 
 own pleasant custom on such occasions. 
 
 An Ignorant hut Grateful Patient. 
 
 I remember another old Mohar, a low caste, 
 who came to us in company with his son and 
 daughter-in-law. The son had mortification of 
 his whole leg up to the knee joint. The limb was 
 amputated at the middle of the thigh and he re- 
 covered. These people remained with us two 
 months and we tried to leach them the way of 
 life and of the only Saviour. When they left us 
 about the only thing the old father could remem- 
 ber of our teaching and express it in words was 
 
— 23 — 
 
 the name of Jesus, so dense was his ignorance. 
 This man was no more ignorant than tens of 
 thousands of his class in India. Several months 
 later, when we were residing at a hill station of 
 the Mission, this old man and his son, who lived 
 some twelve miles away, on hearing that we were 
 there came to see us. The son with his one leg 
 and crutches, and the old father came up to our 
 verandah where we were sitting. The old man 
 had on one arm a chicken and on the other a 
 bundle of eggs and all his family idols. Setting 
 them down on the verandah before us, he pros- 
 trated himself, and rising he said the hen and 
 eggs were a gift, and the idols to show that he 
 had kept his word when he promised that he 
 would worship idols no longer, as he had no more 
 faith in them. 
 
 A Seini- Christian Burial. 
 
 This man’s daughter-in-law had died a month 
 before, and, said the old father-in-law, “when her 
 body was burned we did not want to perform the 
 heathen practice at her funeral, and so we cast earth 
 over her remaining ashes and took the name of Y asu 
 (Jesus) and the doctor sahib.’’ This old man was 
 profoundly ignorant but he was appreciative of 
 the kindness shown him, and I believe lived up to 
 the light he had received. He was not baptized 
 or received into any Christian church, as we did 
 not consider him sufficiently instructed for Chris- 
 tian baptism, and yet he may be one of the Lord’s 
 own people. This old man’s case is one of those 
 cases which illustrate the unrecorded fruits of 
 mission work, since not all who have forsaken 
 their idols as the result of Christian teaching can 
 be gathered into Christian churches. 
 
 Hindu Testimony . 
 
 The value of the medical mission is further 
 illustrated by the following letter received from a 
 prominent and wealthy native gentleman of 
 Western India. His daughter, the widow of a 
 Saradar (a hereditary state official), had been un- 
 der our professional care for three years. Hear- 
 ing of our purpose to leave India shortly on fur- 
 
— 24 — 
 
 loiiph, he wrote expressing liis regret at oiir de- 
 parture. H(! said: “ Who will deny your philan- 
 thropic efforts? Your kind heart, your untiring 
 industrj’, your love of men, your true Christian 
 virtue are indeed praiseworthy. You have greatly 
 lessened human suffering by every means in your 
 power. The spirit of Christianity lies solely in 
 this. The more you do good to men the more you 
 are Christian. Your religion is much more 
 healthy and pure than most religions, and I hope 
 God will grant you long life and prosperity.” 
 
 Our medical work has opened the way for us 
 and our helpers into hundreds of homes, scores of 
 communities and numbers of villages, where, 
 while we might have been tolerated apart from 
 the influence of the medical work, for its sake we 
 have often been warmly received. I myself have 
 visited the homes of native chiefs and officials 
 and several hundred others, often to treat their 
 wives and children, 'where, had I not been a physi- 
 cian I could never have entered. On one occasion 
 after I had visited the palace of a native chief our 
 colporteur entered and sold about twenty Chris- 
 tian books. 
 
 Mcdic.al Statistics. 
 
 During the five years of this medical mission 
 we tri'ated in our outdoor dispensary more than 
 
 44.000 patients, giving out an aggregate of over 
 
 12.5.000 prescriptions. During eight months after 
 the opening of our new hospital, 2.30 in-patients, 
 and dtiring the one year our children’s hospital 
 was open, there were treated 124 in-patients Since 
 the opening of the work in Sangli, five years ago, 
 
 1,070 operations have been performed, over sixty 
 of these on the eye, resulting in the restoration of 
 sight to the blind. The amount of physical relief 
 represented in these figures is in itself worthj- of 
 the spirit of the Great Physician, but more valu- 
 able and lasting in its blessings has been the 
 preaching of the gospel. 
 
 Scattering the Seed Broadcast. 
 
 The number of jnitients treated by no means 
 represents the number who have heard the • 
 
 gospel message through the agency of the dis- if 
 
pensary and hospital. Patients comiii" for treat- 
 ment usually bring one or more friends with 
 them who, with themselves, are also taught the 
 truth as it is in .Tesus. We have sold a goodly 
 number of books to these patients and their 
 friends, and thousands of tracts have been dis- 
 tributed among them. p]very patient who comes 
 to the dispensary receives a lealiet which con- 
 tains his register number. This tract contains 
 suitabl 3 ’ arranged scripture verses and a brief 
 comparison of spiritual and ph.ysical disease. For 
 the sake of the number which it contains this 
 tract is kept by the patient and is brought again 
 when the dispensary is visited. Yeiyv few of these 
 people can read, but there is generalh’ some one 
 in the house or the communitj’ of the patient who 
 can. I have often seen these patients or their 
 friends reading these tracts aloud toothers, some- 
 times a group of half a dozen who sit around 
 listening. Thus we have scattered the Bread of 
 Life far out upon the waters. During the five 
 3 'ears nearly 1,000 different villages have been 
 represented among our dispensar.v patients, manj’ 
 of these in districts that missionaries seldom 
 enter, and hundreds from villages never yet vis- 
 ited by any missionaiw, and almost all without a 
 single witness for Christ. The people have come 
 to us from villages varying from 2 to 300 miles, 
 and many have been treated from still more dis- 
 tant parts of India. 
 
 Tanfjihle Christianity. 
 
 The people come to us and obviously the.v are 
 more receptive than when we go to them. Thus, 
 while we are constrained as debtors to the world to 
 go to the world, they, in the relation of recipient, or 
 in the expectation of kindness, come to us. Thus it 
 is that our message has more weight and its recep- 
 tion is more warm and kind than when we bring to 
 them also spiritual blessings. It is extremely diffi- 
 cult for people born in heathenism and trained 
 in the worship of idols from their very infancy, 
 with hundreds of years of idolatrous practices as 
 their heritage, to appreciate the attributes of God, 
 such as abstract love, grace, purity’ sind perfect 
 
holiness. They have been taught to see rather than 
 believe, lienee the 330.()t)0,0()0 idols in India: but 
 when, after the example of the Master we heal their 
 diseases, the}’ have placed before them visible\o\e, 
 grace, and truth; in short, practical Christianity, 
 they are not slow to observe this something in 
 the Christian and his life which is wholly lack- 
 ing in the Hindu and Hinduism. Thus the Med- 
 ical Mission is preparing the way not only for the 
 entrance of the gospel, but for a great harvest ere 
 lonsr to be reaped. Hundreds of these people, 
 having heard the truth again and again, have 
 sufficient knowledge of the way of life in order 
 to confession of Christ and bajitism, but hold 
 back for caste reasons. People have repeatedly 
 promised us that they would no longer worship 
 idols. They would say, “Our minds are full of 
 the things you have taught us, and we believe in 
 Jesus Christ, but we cannot yet break our caste 
 and be baptized.” Doubiless some say this to 
 please us, but we have reason to believe that 
 many are sincere. 
 
 Cost of Accepting Christ. 
 
 The following will illustrate how these people 
 are bound by the iron chains of caste when many 
 of them would be Christians. A young man, who 
 had one time been a pupil in our mission high 
 school, was taken sick while in Miraj away from 
 his home. He remained as a patient in our hos- 
 piital for ten days. During this time he received 
 Christian instruction. Before he left us I invited 
 him into my office and had a personal talk with him 
 in order to ascertain the effect of our Christian 
 teaching — a rule which I try to follow before in- 
 patients return to their homes. I was surprised to 
 find that this young man was well acquainted with 
 the scriptures, and at his statement that he notonly 
 had thrown away his idols but confessed to be a 
 believer in Jesus Christ as the true and only Sav- 
 iour. He stated further that he had gone so far 
 as to read and teach the Bible in his own family, 
 and that he prayed in the name of Jesus. He 
 believed that Christ had pardoned his sins, and 
 that although he had not been baptized, he was 
 
at heart a Christian. I tried to show liim liis 
 duty witli regard to baptism, and liaving quoted 
 to him scrijjtures bearing on this subject, with 
 which he was evidently unfamiliar, he finally 
 said that he fully intended to be baptized some 
 day, but that out of regard for his family he 
 must defer that step for the present. Said he, “ I 
 was married in childhood, a circumstance for 
 which I am not to blame. I love my wife and 
 three children. I respect my parents, in whose 
 house I live. I am still a student and have a 
 government scholarship, which supports myself 
 and family. I may do as 1 have said I do in my 
 own home and this is tolerated, btit to take the 
 open step of public baptism now simply means 
 that I would be immediately ostracized, an out- 
 caste from my home and family, my wife and 
 children would be torn from me, my on^3’ legiti- 
 mate means of support would be cut off forth- 
 with, and I left a homeless beggar on the street.” 
 I tried to show this young man that his duty to 
 Christ required a willingness to forsake all for His 
 sake, but his answer was that he did not believe 
 that the spirit of Christ's teaching would require 
 his public baptism under the conditions which 
 then surrounded him. This young man’s position 
 is that of hundreds in India whom caste influence 
 restrains from taking the open step of public 
 baptism. These I believe are the part of the 
 harvest soon to be reaped, since it is the result of 
 long and faithful sowing of the precious seed of 
 God’s word, which He has promised will not re- 
 turn void. 
 
 Gaxte the Great Barrier. 
 
 Since caste is the chief barrier to the public 
 confession of Christ in India, anything that in 
 any way modifies its restraints or removes its pre- 
 judices, is not onlj' paving the way for the preach- 
 ing of the gospel, but is in itself a destroyer of th(' 
 conditions which prevent the public renunciation 
 of heathenism and the acceptance of Christianity. 
 The Medical Mission is pre-eminentlj' a caste 
 leveler, and as such is not onl.y an appealing in- 
 strument in the proclamation of Bible teaching. 
 
— 38 — 
 
 but is in addition', b.y destroying caste and by 
 disarming its objection to Christianity, a pre- 
 parer of the way for tlie acceptance of tlie truth 
 which it seeks to inculcate. 
 
 Prayer India's Great Need. 
 
 What India needs most is the faitliful, persist- 
 ent and fervent prayer of God’s own people for 
 the mighty outpouring of the Holj’ Spirit; first 
 upon the missionaries who preach, and secondly 
 upon the Word often and earnestly preached, 
 that the blade of acknowledgment now appear- 
 ing may speedily ripen into the full ear of con- 
 fession and acceptance of Cfiirisl as Lord and King 
 by the many whom Satan now hinders througli 
 the influence of his pernicious system of caste. 
 
 > Visible Fruit and Self-support. 
 
 The work at Miraj is not wanting in tangible 
 results. When we went there, there was not a 
 Christian. A cliurch with eighteen members 
 now exists in connection with the medical work. 
 Three years ago all was darkness. 
 
 Not least among the considerations which com- 
 mend this work is its self-supporting quality. We 
 receive neither state nor government aid, yet the 
 gifts and offerings- of the people for the medical 
 treatment received have yearly increased, until 
 at the end of the last complete fiscal .year 1 was 
 in India they amounted to two-thirds of the total 
 cost of medicines and native medical help. Apart 
 from state or government aid this cannot be said 
 of anj' other form of mission work in India. 
 
 Physical Needs and the Opened Door. 
 
 Let us look for a moment at the physical lu'eds 
 of Medical Jlissionary work in India. To meet 
 only these physical needs, without reference to the 
 spiritual side, would in itself be a noble and 
 Christlike undertaking, but how much better are 
 the physical needs met, when, as the Medical 
 Mission opens to us the opportunity of evangeliza- 
 tion, we carry with it the onlv remed.v for the sin- 
 sick soul. There exists among Christians in home 
 
— 29 — 
 
 lands a prevalent impression that India is well sup- 
 plied with doctors. Compared with some heathen 
 countries this is certainly true, owing, of course, 
 to the presence in India of a large number of 
 British government surgeons. It is also a fact, 
 however, that the majority of these civil surgeons 
 reside in the large cities and cantonment centers, 
 where they are occupied with the care of the 
 British and native troojis and army work in gen- 
 eral Others there are who have the care of the 
 European residents and the superintendence of 
 medical work in tludr districts, in addition to 
 sanitary inspection. A few only give most of their 
 time, in a score or more of the large cities, to actual 
 practice in the hospitals for natives. So that the 
 bulk of the medical work for natives is done by 
 natives, generalh', in the British territory under 
 the inspection of British medical officers, while 
 in the native state, where (>7, 000,000 of the people 
 of India live, there is very little British superin- 
 tendence. There arcs thousands of villages in 
 India varying from 1,000 to 10,000 where it is 
 quite impossible to secure medical aid e.vcept 
 from the native quacks. In .he most thickly 
 populated district in India less than ,5% of the 
 people live within five miles of an educated physi- 
 cian, native or foreign. It is doubtful if 2^ live 
 within twenty-five miles of a European physician, 
 much less a missionary physician. Obviously 
 then in the remote villages and districts, espe- 
 cially in the native states, the Medical Mission 
 finds its greatest field of usefulness. The Medical 
 Mission of the Western India Mission is the only 
 institution of its kind, to our knowledge, in the 
 Bombay Presidency between Poona and Banga- 
 lore, a distance of nearly .">00 miles, and there is 
 no civil surgeon in active practice among natives 
 nearer than 7.5 miles. 
 
 Caste Physicians. 
 
 But what of the educated native physicians 
 who do the most of the medical work done for 
 natives? They are usually Brahmins or men of 
 high castes, educated in English medicine in the 
 medical colleges of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. 
 
— 30 — 
 
 These men, though their education is western, 
 adhere to their caste practices, which prevent 
 them very often from coming in sufficiently close 
 contact with the people, especially the middle and 
 depressed classes, to efficiently treat them, while 
 at the same time they are mostly men of inferior 
 qualifications compared with the physician who 
 has the advantage of receiving his medical edu- 
 cation through the medium of his mother tongue. 
 I>arg§l}' as the result of the Brahmin doctors’ 
 caste, there exists a strong and well grounded 
 prejudice among the lower classes regarding dis- 
 pensaries controlled by these high caste native 
 physicians. So strong is the feeling that invari- 
 ably the middle and low caste natives prefer med- 
 icine from our ordained missionaries rather than 
 go to the professional native doctor. I have 
 known men repeatedly refuse to attend a state 
 dispensary. One man said he would as soon die 
 as go there for treatment. A British political 
 officer once said to me that it was with the great- 
 est difficulty that he could get his native assist- 
 ants to attend a government dispensary, remark- 
 ing at the same time that they went willingly to 
 the mission dispensary. 
 
 Despicable Treatment of Low Castes. 
 
 A low caste man goes to a state dispensary 
 for treatment; while standing at the door, or 
 several feet away from the doctor, he is asked 
 to put out his tongue and another question or 
 two asked: if he is an outcaste his pulse will 
 not even be felt. The doctor, unwilling to touch 
 him, will write a prescription and send him off, 
 often without any idea of the nature of his dis- 
 ease. Even the medicine will vary in quality 
 according to the patient’s ability to fee the 
 doctor, who is himself a salaried officer. To 
 illustrate what I have just said: there was brought 
 to us, soon after our arrival in India, a dreadful 
 sufferer with acute mortifici tion of the whole 
 right leg up to the knee. The case demanded 
 immediate amputation. We had not at that time 
 a suitable place in which to perform the operation 
 or to put the patient. I wrote a note to the doc- 
 
— 31 — 
 
 tor in charge of the state dispensaiy, asking that 
 the man be admitted as an in-patient, and offering 
 my services in the treatment of the case, should 
 they be found necessary. This dispensary con- 
 tained si.\' beds, which I knew to be all unoccu- 
 pied at this time. The patient was a low caste, 
 and. because of that fact, he was put upon the 
 lloor, while the si.x beds remained vacant. A 
 compounder was delegated to amputate the limb 
 (the doctor meanwhile had gone out to dine), and 
 he simply cut olf the leg at a point below that to 
 which the disease had extended. (If course the 
 stump did not bleed; it was completely mortided — 
 a bloodless amputation! The man was put back 
 ui)on the floor where he actually rotted to death, 
 and after the so-called operation, nothing whatever 
 was done for his relief. In the published records 
 of this dispensary for 1894, appeared the follow- 
 ing interesting entry: “In-patients treated, one: 
 in-patients cured, one; percentageof cures, 100%.’’ 
 
 A Great Field. 
 
 Is there not a tremendous field for medical mis- 
 sionary work in India? Is it surprising that the 
 Christian physician is sought in preference to the 
 Hindu doctor? And is it strange also that the 
 depressed classes in India flock to the mission 
 dispensar\', often themselves astonished that they 
 will receive the same kind and faithful treatment 
 that the higher caste man receives? And is it 
 any cause tor wonder in all this, that God has 
 opened unto us a magnificent field in which to 
 preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick? 
 A magnificent field! Yes, but with it God puts 
 upon us a stupendous responsibilit}'. “Freely ye 
 have received, freel}' give.” This is the spirit of 
 the gospel speaking to us with regard to the phys- 
 ical and spiritual needs of the heathen in India. 
 Why, then, is it that so little is given compara- 
 tively to extend this Christ-like work abroad, 
 while churches and states, having proved its 
 worth, spend millions upon it annually at home? 
 
 What it Coet'i. 
 
 A bed supported for a year in our Miraj hos- 
 pital costs only one-sixth ($.30) of a bed in a hos- 
 
pital at homi‘, and is only one-third the cost of 
 the cheapest ^rovernment hospital in India. Why 
 so manj’ Christian physicians at home — one to 
 every six hundred people in New York — many of 
 whom do not average a patient a day, while 
 he might have scores the first week in India and 
 more than he could possibly treat afterward? 
 
 Proposed Medical Class for Christian Evangelists. 
 
 Another word in closing. God has not only 
 used medical missions in India through the'agency 
 of foreign missionary physicians alone, but con- 
 nected with and trained in several medical mis- 
 sions in India are native Christian assistants 
 whose labors have been blessed in the opening of 
 new stations and the conversion of many souls, 
 resulting in not a few instances also in the organi- 
 zation of churches. There is no such Medical Mis- 
 sionary training school in Western India among 
 the sixteen millions of Maratha speaking people. 
 It has been decided to organize such a class with 
 the Jledical Mission at Miraj. The plan is to 
 train suitable Christian men as medical assistants 
 or catechists and to send them out in company 
 with the native evangelists to distant villages, 
 where together they will go throughout all tlie 
 villages preaching the gospel and healing the sick. 
 The prayers of God’s children are requested that 
 His richest blessing ma3’ rest upon this new de- 
 partment and for all the work of Medical Missions, 
 that those connected with them maj’ be men of 
 the Holy Ghost, and that in all their work of ph3’s- 
 ical relief the one great aim ma3’ ever be kept 
 uppermost, viz., the salvation of souls and the 
 glor3’ of God.