<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2>
<h3>"Thy Sweet Original Joy"</h3>
<div class='poem'>
Beacons of hope, ye appear!<br/>
Languor is not in your heart,<br/>
Weakness is not in your word,<br/>
Weariness not on your brow.<br/><br/></div>
<div class='cap'>WITHIN the last few months a friend, a lover of books,
sent me <i>The Trial and Death of Socrates</i>, translated
into English by F. J. Church. Opening it for
the first time, I came upon this passage:—</div>
<p><i>Socrates:</i> "Does a man who is in training, and who is in
earnest about it, attend to the praise and blame of all men,
or of the one man who is doctor or trainer?"</p>
<p><i>Crito:</i> "He attends only to the opinion of the one man."</p>
<p><i>Socrates:</i> "Then he ought to fear the blame and welcome
the praise of the one man, not the many?"</p>
<p><i>Crito:</i> "Clearly."</p>
<p>And Socrates sums the argument thus: "To be brief; is
it not the same in everything?"</p>
<p>Surely the wise man spoke the truth: it is the same in
everything. The one thing that matters is the opinion of
the One. If He is satisfied, all is well. If He is dissatisfied,
the commendation of the many is as froth. "Blessed are the
single-hearted, for they shall have much peace."</p>
<p>But Nature is full of pictures of bright companionship in<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</SPAN></span>
service; the very stars shine in constellations. This book of
the skies has been opening up to us of late. Who, to whom
the experience is new, will forget the first evenings spent with
even a small telescope, but powerful enough to distinguish
double stars and unveil nebulæ? You look and see a single
point of light, and you look again and twin suns float like
globes of fire on a midnight sea; and sometimes one flashes
golden yellow and the other blue, each the complement of the
other, like two perfectly responsive friends. You look and see
a little lonely cloud, a breath of transparent mist; you look
and see spaces sprinkled with diamond dust, or something even
more awesome, reaches of radiance that seem to lie on the
borderland of Eternity.</p>
<p>And the shining glory lingers and lights up the common
day, for the story of the sky is the story of life.</p>
<div class='poem'>
Far was the Call, and farther as I followed<br/>
Grew there a silence round my Lord and me—<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>is for ever the inner story, as for ever the stars must move
alone, however close they are set in constellations or strewn
in clusters; but in another sense is it not true that there is the
joy of companionship and the pure inspiration of comradeship?
God fits twin souls together like twin suns; and sometimes,
with delicate thought for even the sensitive pleasure of
colour, it is as if He arranged them so that the gold and the
blue coalesce.</div>
<p>And we think of the places which were once blank, mere
misty nothings to us. They sparkle now with friends. Some
of them are familiar friends known through the wear and tear
of life; some we shall never see till we meet above the stars.
And there the nebula speaks its word of mystery beyond
mystery, but all illuminated by the light from the other side.</p>
<div class="sidenote">Another Compelling Influence</div>
<p>In the work of which these chapters have told there has
been the wonderful comfort of sympathy and help from<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</SPAN></span>
fellow-missionaries of our own and sister missions; and, as
all who have read, understand, nothing could have been done
without the loyal co-operation of our Indian fellow-workers
whose tenderness and patience can never be described. We
think of the friends in the mission houses along the route of
our long journeyings; we remember how no hour was too
inconvenient to receive us and our tired baby travellers; we
think of those who in weariness and painfulness have sought
for the little children; and we think of those who have made
the work possible by being God's good Ravens to us. We think
of them all, and we wish their names could be written on the
cover of this book instead of the name least worthy to be
there. And now latest and nearest comfort and blessing,
there are the two new "Sitties," whose first day with us made
them one of us. What shall I render unto the Lord for all
His benefits towards me?</p>
<p>The future is full of problems. Even now in these Nursery
days questions are asked that are more easily asked than
answered. We should be afraid if we looked too far ahead,
so we do not look. We spend our strength on the day's work,
the nearest "next thing" to our hands. But we would be
blind and heedless if we made no provision for the future.
We want to gather and lay up in store against that difficult
time (should it ever come) a band of friends for the children,
who will stand by them in prayer.</p>
<p>There has been another compelling influence. We recognise
something in the Temple-children question which touches
a wider issue than the personal or missionary. Those who
have read <i>Queen Victoria's Letters</i> must have become conscious
of a certain enlargement. Questions become great or
dwindle into nothingness according as they affect the honour
and the good of the Empire. We find ourselves instinctively
"thinking Imperially," regarding things from the Throne
side—from above instead of from below.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="sidenote"><i>But</i></div>
<p>We fear exaggerated language. We would not exaggerate
the importance of these little children or their cause. We
have said that we realise, as we did not when first this
work began, how very delicate and difficult a matter it
would be for Government to take any really effective action,
and less than effective action is useless. We recognise the
value of our pledge of neutrality in religious matters, and
we know what might happen if Government moved in a
line which to India might appear to be contrary to the
spirit of that pledge. It would be far better if India
herself led the way and declared, as England declared when
she passed the Industrial Schools Amendment Act of 1880, that
she will not have her little children demoralised in either
Temple houses recognised as such, or in any similar houses,
such as those which abound in areas where the Temple child
nominally is non-existent. But must we wait till India leads
the way? Scattered all over the land there are men who are
against this iniquity, and would surely be in favour of such
legislation as would make for its destruction. But few would
assert that the people as a whole are even nearly ready. A
great wave of the Power of God, a great national turning
towards Him, would, we know, sweep the iniquity out of the
land as the waters of the Alpheus swept the stable-valley
clean, in the old classic story. Oh for such a sudden flow
of the River of God, which is full of water! But must we
wait until it comes? Did we wait until India herself asked
for the abolition of suttee? Surely what is needed is such
legislation as has been found necessary at home, which
empowers the magistrate to remove a child from a dangerous
house, and deprives parents of all parental rights
who are found responsible for its being forced into wrong.
Surely such action would be Imperially right; and can a
thing right in itself and carried out with a wise earnestness,
ever eventually do harm? Must it not do good in the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</SPAN></span>
end, however agitating the immediate result may appear?
Surely the one calm answer, "<i>It is Right</i>," will eventually
silence all protest and still all turbulence!</p>
<p>Such a law, it is well to understand at the outset, will
always be infinitely more difficult to enforce in India than
in England, because of the immensely greater difficulty here
in getting true evidence; and because—unless that River of
God flow through the land—there will be for many a year
the force of public opinion as a whole against us, or if not
actively against, then inert and valueless. Caste feeling will
come in and shield and circumvent and get behind the law.
The Indian sensitiveness concerning Custom will be all
awake and tingling with a hidden but intense vitality; and
this, which is inevitable because natural, will have to be
taken into account in every attempt made to enforce the
law. The whole situation bristles with difficulties; but are
difficulties an argument for doing nothing?</p>
<p>"Whoever buys hires or otherwise obtains possession of,
whoever sells lets to hire or otherwise disposes of any minor
under sixteen with the intent that such minor shall be
employed or used for ;. . . any unlawful purpose or knowing
it likely that such minor will be employed or used for any
such purpose shall be liable to imprisonment up to a term
of ten years and is also liable to a fine."</p>
<p><i>But</i> where it appeared that certain minor girls were
being taught singing and dancing and were being made to
accompany their grandmother and Temple woman to the
Temple with a view to qualify them as Temple women, it
was held that this did not amount to a disposal of the
minors within the meaning of the section.</p>
<p>Ought this interpretation of the Indian Penal Code to
be possible? The proof the law requires at present, proof
of the sale of the child or its definite dedication to the idol,
is rarely obtainable. The fact that it is being taught singing<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</SPAN></span>
and dancing (although it is well known, as the barrister's
letter proves, that among orthodox Hindus such arts are
never taught to little children except when the intention is
bad) is not considered sufficient evidence upon which to base
a conviction. To us it seems that the presence of the child
in such a house, or in any house of known bad character,
is sufficient proof that it is in danger of the worst wrong
that can be inflicted upon a defenceless child—the demoralisation
of its soul, the spoiling of its whole future life, before it
has ever had a chance to know and choose the good.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-48.jpg" width-obs="550" height-obs="387" alt="From the Rock, Dohnavur." title="" /> <span class="caption">From the Rock, Dohnavur.</span></div>
<p>And so we write it finally as our solemn conviction that
there is need for a law like our own English law, and we
add—and those who know India know how true this sentence
is—<i>such legislation, however carefully framed, will be a
delusion, a blind, a dead letter, unless men of no ordinary
insight and courage and character are appointed to see that
it is carried out</i>.</p>
<p>God grant that these chapters, written in weakness, may
yet do something towards moving the Church to such prayer
that the answer will be, as once before, that an angel will
be sent to open the doors of the prison-house!</p>
<p>The frontispiece shows the rock to which we go sometimes
when we feel the need of a climb and a blow. It is
associated in our minds with a story:—"Between the passages
by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines'
garrison there was a sharp rock on the one side and a
sharp rock on the other side. . . . And Jonathan said to the
young man that bare his armour: 'Come and let us go
over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be
that the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint
to the Lord to save by many or by few.' And his armour-bearer
said unto him: 'Do all that is in thine heart: turn
thee, behold I am with thee according to thy heart.'"</p>
<p>We have a rock to climb, and there is nothing the least<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</SPAN></span>
romantic about it. We shall have to climb it "upon our hands
and upon our feet." It is all grim earnest. "We make our way
wrapped in glamour to the Supreme Good, the summit," writes
Guido Rey, the mountaineer, in the joy of his heart. But later
it is: "One precipice fell away at my feet, and another rose
above me. . . . It was no place for singing." Friends, we shall
come to such places on the Matterhorn of life. As we follow the
Gleam wherever it leads, may we count upon the upholding of
those for whom we have written—the lovers of little children?</p>
<div class="sidenote">"So God maketh His Precious Opal"</div>
<p>And now, in conclusion, all I would say has already
been so perfectly said, that I cannot do better than copy
from the writings of two who fought a good fight and have
been crowned—Miss Ellice Hopkins, brave, sensitive, soldier-soul
on the hardest of life's battlefields; and George Herbert,
courtier, poet, and saint. "Often in that nameless discouragement,"
wrote Miss Hopkins, as she lay slowly dying, "before
unfinished tasks, unfulfilled aims and broken efforts, I have
thought of how the creative Word has fashioned the opal,
made it of the same stuff as desert sands, mere silica—not a
crystallised stone like the diamond, but rather a stone with a
broken heart, traversed by hundreds of small fissures which let
in the air, the breath, as the Spirit is called in the Greek of our
Testament; and through those two transparent mediums of
such different density it is enabled to refract the light, and
reflect every lovely hue of heaven, while at its heart burns a
mysterious spot of fire. When we feel, therefore, as I have
often done, nothing but cracks and desert dust, we can say: So
God maketh His precious opal!"</p>
<p>We would never willingly disguise one fraction of the truth
in our desire to win sympathy and true co-operation. There
will be hours of nameless discouragement for all who climb the
rock. For some there will be the "broken heart."</p>
<p>And yet there is a joy that is worth it all a thousand times—well
worth it all. Who that has known it will doubt it?<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</SPAN></span>
This reach of water recalls it. The palms, as we look at them,
seem to lift their heads in solemn consciousness of it. For the
water-side—where we stand with those for whom we have
travailed in soul, when for the first time they publicly confess
their faith in Christ—is a sacred place to us.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-49.jpg" width-obs="550" height-obs="388" alt="THE PLACE OF BAPTISM." title="" /> <span class="caption">THE PLACE OF BAPTISM.</span></div>
<p>Has our story wandered sometimes into sorrowful ways?
To be true it has to be sorrowful sometimes. We look back to
the day of its beginning, the day that our first little Temple
child came and opened a new door to us.</p>
<div class='poem'>
Since that time many a bitter storm<br/>
My soul hath felt, e'en able to destroy,<br/>
Had the malicious and ill-meaning harm<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">His swing and sway;</span><br/>
But still Thy sweet original joy<br/>
Sprung from Thine eye did work within my soul,<br/>
And surging griefs when they grew bold control,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And got the day.</span><br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>It is true. Many a bitter storm has come; there have been the
shock and the darkness of new knowledge of evil, and grief
beside which all other pain pales, the grief of helplessness in the
face of unspeakable wrong. But still, above and within, and
around, like an atmosphere, like a fountain, there has been
something bright, even that "sweet original joy" which
nothing can darken or quench.</div>
<div class='poem'>
If Thy first glance so powerful be<br/>
A mirth but opened and sealed up again,<br/>
What wonders shall we feel when we shall see<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Thy full-orbed love!</span><br/>
When Thou shalt look us out of pain,<br/>
And one aspect of Thine spend in delight,<br/>
More than a thousand worlds' disburse in light<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">In heaven above!</span><br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>And not alone, oh, not alone, shall we see Him as He is!
There will be the little children too.</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</SPAN></span><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p><i>Those who care to know how the Temple Children's work began
will find the story in</i> "<span class="smcap">Things As They Are</span>." <i>Preface by
Eugene Stock; 320 pp. and Thirty-two Illustrations from Photographs
taken specially for this work. Cloth, 2s. 6d. net (post free
2s. 10d.) Also,</i> "<span class="smcap">Overweights of Joy</span>." <i>Preface by Rev. T.
Walker, C.M.S. With Thirty-four Illustrations chiefly from Photographs
taken specially for this work. Cloth, 2s. 6d. net (post free
2s. 10d.), Morgan & Scott Ld., 12, Paternoster Buildings, London.</i><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h3>ONLY A LIMITED NUMBER OF COPIES REMAIN</h3>
<h4>OF THE<br/></h4>
<div class='bbox'>
<h2>ORIGINAL EDITION OF</h2>
<h1>LOTUS BUDS</h1></div>
<div class='center'><br/><small>CONTAINING</small><br/>
FIFTY PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS.<br/>
———————<br/>
Cloth Boards, <b>14s. 6d.</b> <i>net</i> (<i>post free</i>, 15s.).<br/>
———————<br/>
"THE MOST STRIKING MISSIONARY BOOK EVER PUBLISHED."<br/>
<i>Her Majesty Queen Alexandra graciously accepted a copy.</i></div>
<div class="blockquot"><p>"The feature of the book is fifty photogravure illustrations from photographs specially
taken of the children. Many of these—indeed, all of them—are very charming. Some
of them are mere babies, others of larger growth, but in each case the photographer has
succeeded in presenting pictures which will elicit high admiration. The laughing faces,
curly hair, and fine physical development of the little Indians, make photographs
exceedingly attractive. Indeed, we have never seen a more 'taking' series of children
of the Orient. . . . The book will interest not only supporters of missions but all lovers
of children."—<i>The Westminster Gazette.</i></p>
<p>"The photogravure illustrations—fifty in number—are perfect as works of art.
Some are pictures of scenery; most are characteristic representations of the children.
All are full-page."—<i>British Weekly.</i></p>
<p>";. . . the beautiful little faces depicted in the photogravures which adorn the
volume. There are fifty of these photogravures in the book, the major portion being of
children, and we regard it as extremely improbable that more splendid pictures are to be
found in any other work."—<i>Baby.</i></p>
<p>"The most wonderful photographs."—<i>Contemporary Review.</i></p>
<p>"We have seldom seen more attractive illustrations than those of the Indian children
which are here reproduced."—<i>East and West.</i></p>
<p>"They are the finest photographs of children we have ever seen, and beautifully
produced."—<i>The Record.</i></p>
<p>"We must, in conclusion, compliment all concerned in the manner in which this
appeal for the children has been issued—the author, the artist, and the publishers
(Messrs. Morgan & Scott Ld.), having combined to produce in 'Lotus Buds' a fine piece
of work."—<i>The Publishers' Circular.</i></p>
</div>
<div class='center'>
———————<br/>
MORGAN & SCOTT LD., 12, Paternoster Buildings, London, E.C.<br/></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class='center'>ALSO BY AMY WILSON-CARMICHAEL</div>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<div class='unindent'><b><big>THINGS AS THEY ARE:</big></b><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 12em;">MISSION WORK IN SOUTHERN INDIA</span></div>
<div class='hang1'>With Preface by <span class="smcap">Eugene Stock</span>. 320 pages, and Thirty-two beautiful Illustrations from
Photographs taken specially for this work. Ninth Edition. Paper, <b>1s. 6d.</b> <i>net</i> (<i>post
free</i>, <b>1s. 9d.</b>); Cloth Boards, <b>2s. 6d.</b> <i>net</i> (<i>post free</i>, <b>2s. 10d.</b>).</div>
<p><span class="smcap">Dr. A. Rudisill</span>, M.E. Press, Madras:—"In 'Things as They Are' are pictured by
pen and camera some things as they are. It is all the more needful now when so many
are deceived, and are being deceived, as to the true nature of idolatry, that people at
home who give and pray should be told plainly that what Paul wrote about idolaters in
Rome and Corinth is still true of idolaters in India."</p>
<p>"The account of native life, of the customs of the people, of the few pleasures they
enjoy, and the many sorrows that oppress them, is as accurate as it is lucid and entertaining.
It will be well to give this book studious attention; it is so completely sincere
and so free from prejudice; and there are many excellent illustrations after photographs."—<i>Literary
World.</i><br/><br/></p>
<div class='unindent'><b><big>OVERWEIGHTS OF JOY:</big></b><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 12em;">MISSION WORK IN SOUTHERN INDIA</span></div>
<div class='hang1'>Preface by Rev. <span class="smcap">T. Walker</span>, C.M.S. 320 pages, and Thirty-four beautiful Illustrations
from Photographs taken specially for this work. Paper <b>1s. 6d.</b> <i>net</i> (<i>post free</i>, <b>1s. 9d.</b>).;
Cloth Boards, <b>2s. 6d.</b> <i>net</i> (<i>post free</i>, <b>2s. 10d.</b>). (Companion Volume to "Things as
They Are.")</div>
<p>"There is a life and enthusiasm and devotion, combined with literary ability and winsomeness
of style, which make the book very captivating, as well as very touching. It is
quite wonderfully illustrated with sunsets on the Ghauts and all kinds of wonders, and
withal it is a song of spiritual triumph from a soul that feels intensely the cost of the
Cross. A book, indeed, for every Christian home."—<i>The Churchman.</i></p>
<p>"One of the most striking and inspiring missionary books of recent years."—<i>The
Christian World.</i><br/><br/></p>
<div class='unindent'><big><b>THE BEGINNING OF A STORY</b></big></div>
<div class='hang1'>Being the story of the beginning of the work among Temple children, related for the
friends of the Temple children. Bound in Art Covers, tied with silk cord. Artistic
design embossed in gold, <b>6d.</b> <i>net</i> (<i>post free</i>, <b>8d.</b>).</div>
<p>"This little book tells a touching story. It is hoped that many who are interested in
the work on behalf of Indian children exposed to terrible peril will circulate this booklet
to further a cause which has aroused widespread and prayerful interest."—<i>Irish Baptist
Magazine.</i></p>
<p>"This is a delightful booklet in its attractive blue and gold covers, and with the
picture of the smiling Indian maiden looking out upon us."—<i>Bible Standard.</i></p>
<div class='center'>
———————<br/>
MORGAN & SCOTT LD., 12, Paternoster Buildings, London, E.C.</div>
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