(one of the pupils of the Rev. J. S. S. Robertson) brought her to Mrs. Robertson, and entreated her to give the desolate child a home amongst some orphan girls whom she had adopted. These girls were in all respects educated and treated as if they had been the children of their kind protectors, saving only that they did not eat at their table, and did not relinquish the becoming Native dress. They were carefully instructed in their native tongue (the Marathi) during the morning, and this instruction was given by one of the Mission schoolmasters. In the afternoon they used to practise needlework under the supervision of Mrs. Robertson and her tailor. They were also taught the household duties usually performed by Native women. It was the hope of Mr. and Mrs. Robertson that these girls might grow up to be the wives of Native pastors and catechists, that they might become intelligent companions to their husbands, and responsible Christian mistresses of Christian homes. This hope was not disappointed-in one instance, at least, it was abundantly fulfilled. Ganga was possessed of a clear mind, and she learnt well and rapidly. She early showed serious attention while being taught the truths of the Christian religion. At her own earnest request, she was baptized, and Mrs. Robertson was fully convinced, both by her words and her conduct, of her fitness to make this solemn promise and profession. She always showed the deepest attention to the Word of God, and (unlike many of the young) her thoughts were never easily diverted to other pursuits and other things. In a quiet, earnest manner she would try and impress this Word on her young companions. Her missionary zeal gradually gained force, as was right, and she began to speak earnestly to those of her country men and women who came to the house. Gradually she came to be treated as an elder daughter might have been by Mrs. Robertson. One day when that lady was unwell, and unable to appear at morning prayers, Ganga, as usual, took her place. On coming down Mrs. Robertson was much pleased to find them all seated quietly at their work listening to Ganga, who was speaking to them about one of the Collects in the Marathi Prayer-book. Evidently the truths of eternal life were supremely interesting to her, and therefore she succeeded in making them interesting to others. This is a sure recipe for securing an attentive audience. While sitting at work with the tailor she would read and converse with him on scriptural subjects. In the evening she would sit near the watchman, and speak and read, by the light of a lantern, of Him who is the Light of the world. This was When the whole family removed to the hills near Nasik, as they usually did in the hot season, she managed to collect a school of the girls at the station, and, what was more remarkable still, contrived to get together a meeting of mothers. held on a Sunday at 3 P.M., and was entirely the result of her own thought and energy. Mrs. Robertson only became aware of the fact when Ganga came to her a little before the appointed hour, and asked to be excused from reading with her then, as had been their usual custom. On going into the room about half an hour afterwards, Mrs. Robertson was surprised and pleased to find it filled to the door with men, women, and children. On their return to Nasik she began to teach in a girls' school in that city; and, with the assistance of Mrs. Frost, the wife of a missionary, and head of the establishment, it rapidly became a very efficient one. On the west side of Nasik stands Sharanpur, a Christian village; and in this village lived a Parsee gentleman named Ruttonji Nowroji, who had for some time been a silent but most observant witness of the young teacher's love and zeal for her Lord. He had been educated in a Government school, had lost his faith in the Parsee religion, and had become a mere Deist. He and some other young men, who had been similarly affected by their contact with European science and civilisation, formed themselves into a sort of brotherhood, and examined the Bible and the principal Christian doctrines, with a view to furnishing themselves with arguments against both. But the preaching of a Native Christian touched their hearts, and Ruttonji in particular became an earnest and courageous servant and soldier of Christ. Christ. He had to relinquish his prospects of worldly advancement, which seem to have been good, and worst of all, his home and the loving companionship of his family and friends. He became a catechist, and ultimately a clergyman, but this was not till some years later. Meantime the promise to those who have forsaken friends, lands, and homes for Christ's sake was abundantly fulfilled in his case. "Who can find a virtuous woman?" said the Royal Preacher; "her price is far above rubies," and so thought the young Native catechist when he succeeded in winning Ganga to be his wife. High festival was held on the day of their marriage, and the church was crowded by friends who came to witness the ceremony. For the day which joined together two devoted servants of God, the day which laid the foundation of the Temple of a Christian Home, was also the birthday of the Christian village of Sharanpur. When Mrs. Robertson apologised to the bridegroom for what she considered the smallness of her wedding gift, he answered with the ready politeness of the Oriental, and with truth as well, "The best gift I have received to-day is from you, and that is my wife." It was only natural that Mrs. Robertson should deeply miss the loving companion who was truly her daughter in Christ Jesus, but she also rejoiced greatly in watching her consistent Christian course. The earnest, energetic girl became in due. time the prudent wife, in whom the heart of her husband might (and did) most safely trust; the wise and tender mother; the accurate, methodical mistress, whose house preached as well as her lips. And she was her husband's valuable helper in all his missionary labours. When Mr. Ruttonji entered the ministry, he was appointed to the station of Aurangabad, about a hundred miles east of Nasik. There they laboured for some years, while a large and interesting family grew up around them. Mr. and Mrs. Robertson had the satisfaction of visiting them there, and seeing how actively good works went on under their supervision. Four more years, happy and busy years, were spent by Mrs. Ruttonji in the happy home of which she was the centre; and then the Father of the fatherless called her to her eternal home among the "many mansions." Cholera broke out at Aurangabad; one of Mrs. Ruttonji's servants was stricken; she hastened to attend upon the invalid; waited on her assiduously, andtook the disease herself. Her sufferings were sharp but short; her mind and heart stood fast and believed in the Lord. She took a tender farewell of her desolate husband and children, and then passed gently away to that rest which remaineth for the people of God. She "being dead yet speaketh" by her bereaved husband, who now goes forth to his labour from a darkened and lonely home; by the children whom she trained in the fear and love of the Lord; by her untiring labours for the souls of her poor countrywomen. Oh, that many such might arise among the daughters of India !--wise, true, pious, and firm of heart. The nation has need of such. If Napoleon needed mothers to establish his empire, much more does Christ. As to this mothermother in the flesh and in the spirit too-we think we may safely pronounce on her the emphatic testimony of the Hebrew teacher-"Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates." ELIZABETH SUTTON. The above sketch is based on an interesting book entitled "Life of Ganga Bai." By Mrs. J. S. S. Robertson. Published by Seton and Mackenzie, Edinburgh. "Bai” is a term of respect, like our " Mrs." THE LATE DR. KRAPF. VERY one will re member how touched all England was when the accounts came home of Livingstone's death. On his knees, by his bedside, he was found by his faithful followers. In the act of prayer he was translated into the Land of Praise. So was it with John Ludwig Krapf, the Pioneer-Missionary of East and Central Africa, who on Nov. 26th, the eve of Advent Sunday, was called home to the presence of his Lord. "In the afternoon," writes his friend, Mr. Flad, who, like him, was a missionary in Abyssinia, "I spent an hour with him in his study, talking of the approaching Second Advent of Christ. He went to his bedroom quite well, as usual, and was found in the morning kneeling at his bed, undressed." A blessed end to a consecrated life! Dr. Krapf was born in Wurtemburg in 1810. While yet a child, poring over maps, the longing came over him to explore those great regions of Africa that were so blank and destitute of names-a desire stimulated by the perusal of Bruce's Travels, which he stumbled upon at an THE LATE DR. KRAPF. (From a Daguerreotype by Beard taken in 1850.) old book shop. Afterwards, when his heart was given to God, this geographical curiosity developed into missionary ardour, and he entered the Basle Seminary, which in those days gave so many devoted missionaries to the C.M.S. By one of these, Fjellstad of Smyrna, Krapf also was introduced to the Society, and he joined its Abyssinia Mission in 1887. Expelled thence through the hostile influence of the Jesuits, he tried the adjoining kingdom of Shoa, where he remained three years. Various journeys followed, during which he and his wife suffered great privations. On one occasion a child was born to them under the most trying circumstances, was significantly named Eneba, "a Tear," and lived only for an hour. At length, when every door in that part of Africa seemed closed, he went down the coast to Zanzibar, visiting on his way Mombasa, where he landed on Jan. 3rd, 1844. There, six months afterwards, on July 13th, his wife was taken from him; but his brave spirit quailed not, and he wrote home to the Committee that they must see in her lonely grave the pledge and token of the possession of East Africa for Christ. Close to that grave may now be seen the flourishing settlement at Frere Town. Out of that first visit to Mombasa sprang all the C.M.S. work on the coast; and, in its results, the whole of the vast discoveries of the last twenty-five years in Central Africa. In consequence of the researches of Krapf and his companion Rebmann, the expeditions of Burton, Speke, and Grant were projected. To complete their explorations, Livingstone came up from the south. In the wake of Livingstone went Cameron and Stanley. And in the last six years, some forty or fifty missionaries have penetrated into the regions whose blank spaces fired the youthful imagination of John Ludwig Krapf. We must not judge a missionary by the number of his converts. Krapf only knew of one from all his African labours. Henry Martyn only knew of one or two. Yet what a mighty work has been done by their example! Dr. Krapf's later years were spent at Kornthal, in South Germany, where he was diligently employed in preparing dictionaries, &c., of several East African languages, and translations of the Scriptures. On Nov. 30th his body was solemnly committed to the earth, in the presence of three thousandpeople who had assembled from all parts of the country, by the side of John Rebmann, the companion of his travels and trials, who followed him to Africa but preceded him to heaven. TEN WEEKS IN INDIA. Extracts from Letters to my Children during a Winter Tour. BY THE REV. E. H. BICKERSTETH, M.A., Vicar of Christ Church, Hampstead. [Press of work prevented my acceding to the Editor's urgent request that I would write some account of the few weeks I spent in India last winter for the GLEANER. But as my children preserved the letters I wrote them, I have placed them in his hands to make any extracts which he thought might interest others. This must be my apology for the very negligent and fragmentary nature of the following papers.-E. H. B.] THE LATE DR. KRAPF. (From a Photograph taken recently. I. BOMBAY, Friday Evening, November 19, 1880. AST night, as a number of us were watching from the forecastle deck, the Bombay Harbour Lighthouse flashed its electric light (20 miles distant) upon us. We raised such a cheer. There it was, right in front of our prow. How marvellous the skill that guided us from Aden Cape straight to that one light! It was terribly hot and still. At 12 we turned into our hot cabin. We rose this morning at 5, and at 8, Edward accompanied by the Rev. H. C. Squires, the Church Missionary Society's Secretary at Bombay, came on board. Mr. Squires took us at once to his hospitable home; and nothing could exceed his thoughtful kindness and that of his wife. He is indeed the Gaius of 3.30, and had the kindest welcome from the Rev. W. A. and the Church here. BOMBAY, Tuesday, November 23, 1880. We had a most happy Sunday. I went to the early vernacular service, where the Rev. Appaji Bapuji was preaching to about seventy-five earnest Christian converts. At breakfast the vestibule was occupied by a class of twenty Christian children, who sang sweetly. The first was a hymn on Peace, to a lovely native tune. At 11 we had morning service, and Edward* preached an excellent sermon on "By grace are ye saved through faith." In the afternoon I addressed the English-speaking children (some eighty) of well-to-do residents and others in a Sunday-school held in Major Oldham's house, and in the evening preached to a very full church on "Love is strong as death," and helped to administer the Lord's Supper afterwards to seventy-five communicants. On Monday morning we went and saw the Robert Money School of 250 pupils, and I addressed some sixty of them on Christian ambition. We then went to the Scotch Presbyterian College, where Edward wanted to see their plans. It is a most active, energetic work which is being carried on there. Mrs. Roberts. Mr. Roberts drove me and Edward into Nasik. It is a most picturesque native town, somewhat dirty after the heavy rain. We were taken to several of their temples, where we saw them offering their rice and flowers. To watch them made one long more than ever for the time when all shall know the only Name. We came back to dinner, prayers, and bed. Such a refreshing night!-no mosquitoes, no noise-far the best night we have had since we left England, though we were told to be very careful of scorpions and snakes, which abound here. However, thank God, none troubled us. This morning I rose at 6, and Mr. Roberts took me and Edward all over the Mission farm, which is entirely worked by the Christians of the village. It costs the Society nothing, as it more than pays its way, and it affords work for the converts and inquirers. He took us to the corn-fields and millet-fields, and sugar-cane bamboo grove, and vineyards and orange yards, and mango orchard, with its grand old well (to obtain which they at first rented the land, though they have digged three more since), and other grain fields and pepper (Chili) ground. We then saw the ingenious process of drawing water by four oxen from the last noble well. I suppose the shaft was 20 or 24 feet across. Two large water buckets, made of leather, were let down into the them up full, and as they reached the brim of the well, by touching a circular roller it opened a neck at the bottom of the buckets, and the water was emptied into a trough and conveyed in small courses to the field. By watering and working they have made a most fruitful out of a barren ground:— -which thing is a parable. We then saw the Christian girls, thirty in number, make and have their breakfast-a flat millet cake and curry soup. They were happy, but very quiet. Altogether this is a most delightful Mission station, and seems a centre of labour for which we cannot be sufficiently thankful. We are here 1,900 feet above the sea level, and with a west wind they get the full benefit of the sea breezes, though the sea is 60 miles distant. This morning we started before 7, and hoped to get off before the heat of the day in kind Captain Verrell's steam launch to the Elephanta Caves. But we were delayed till 10-very hot-well, and then the oxen, by stepping down an incline, dragged when the captain took us off. But when we had steamed about six out of the eight miles, part of the machinery broke. We had no sail, no oar, and drifted helplessly with the tide for more than an hour, when the captain happily was able to patch up the breakage, and we soon landed and climbed to those remarkable Brahmin caves, situate in that beautiful wooded island, the grand relics of ancient idol-worship. We got home by 2.30, and found the Bishop of Bombay awaiting us at lunch. We visited the girls' school with him, and then called on a wealthy and learned Hindu, Sir Mungeldas Nathabhoy, to whom Professor Monier Williams had given me a letter. Though ill, he was so kind-would insist on receiving us on his swinging sofa, sent his son with us over his magnificent house, and then for a drive round Malabar Hill. We were just admitted within the gates of the enclosure of the Towers of Silence, where the Parsees bury, or rather expose their dead, and then visited the approaches to several Hindu temples, and back in our friend's magnificent carriage (which he told me cost Rs. 5,000) to Mr. Squires'. I told our friend's son how, as a Christian, I longed for the time when we should all worship in one Christian temple, but that I was sure it was good for us to get to know one another, as we should respect each other more. I gave him a copy of my poem,t which he graciously accepted. NASIK, Thursday, November 25. We started at 6.15 yesterday morning, and came 117 miles over the Ghauts (some 2,000 feet high) hither. As we neared Nasik Road Station a heavy rain came on, and we got from the train through drenching rain into the queerest little carriages, called tongas, drawn by two ponies, one for our luggage, two for ourselves-i.e., M- and myself, Edward, and a Christian manservant, whom we have engaged for two months. A would have liked these tongas amazingly-two ponies with a pole and cross-yoke over their neck, no traces, driven at full canter for five and a-half miles to the Christian station of Sharanpur, which is a village a mile and a-half off the town of Nasik, a large town of nearly 30,000 people, on the banks of the Godavery, which rises 17 miles from here. § We got in at *The Rev. E. Bickersteth, of the Cambridge Delhi Mission, son of the writer.-ED. The Church Missionary Society's principal educational institution in Bombay. See GLEANER of July, 1876.-ED. Yesterday, To-day, and For Ever. (London: Rivingtons.)-ED. See a picture of Nasik in the GLEANER of January, 1876; also pictures and accounts of Sharanpur in that and succeeding numbers.-ED. In the afternoon Mr. Roberts drove Edward and me some six miles along the old Bombay road, down which our armies, before the railroad days, had so often marched to battle and to victory, to the foot of the hill on which the celebrated Nasik caves are situate. They are Buddhist caves, with many inscriptions, and several were probably excavated some centuries before the Christian era. They command a magnificent view of the country, and as we drove rapidly back heavy storms of rain were falling to the right and left, but none fell on us, and the strange fantastic hills -evidently of volcanic origin-were lighted up with lurid sunset flames. Mr. Roberts asked me to preach to his Christian converts at his evening service, saying he would interpret for me. It was a sudden invitation, but I could not refuse, so took Jude 20, 21. It was such a hearty service; they sang sweetly, and I got on better than I expected, if I may judge from the eager faces of the Native Christians. CORRESPONDENCE. Missionary Boxes. DEA BY LOUISA H. H. TRISTRAM. collected in each class as kept by the teachers (the money is deposited every SKETCHES OF MISSIONARY WORK IN PALESTINE. Sunday in the box) is read out by the superintendent when the box is returned to the school at the beginning of the new quarter. The amount that each box has collected since its beginning to work is always written on a new C.M. box paper at the bottom of the box on its return to its owner. The box-holders are kept carefully informed of all interesting missionary information to be given at meetings or otherwise in the parish; and at the principal annual parochial meeting the names and lists of contributions as they will be printed are read out by the vicar. I do not know by what means our collectors fill their boxes; their own interest and ingenuity suggest that. Our own box is handed round for contributions to every one present after dinner on Sundays. Next to a hearty Christian interest in any work for God, and the good of others, method and punctuality in carrying out all the details are the best means to ensure success. This is a truism, but is not always acted out. A LOVER OF THE C.M.S. The result has been an increase in the contents from about £10 to nearly £24; as well as an increased interest in the work of the Society, as detailed in its publications. In these days of agricultural depression and trying times for farmers, it is interesting to find one of them collecting in his box 152 farthings -equal to 33. 2d.-and sending in that, along with a subscription of 5s. We all feel very thankful, and greatly encouraged by the progress of our boxes; and most of the holders seem surprised to find how much they have thus been able to collect. E. D. S. EAR SIR,-As you have invited your readers to send you their experience ticularly to notice is what we call the Iron Room Sunday School Box. This school is attended by about fifty boys. Our late dear and respected vicar, or some other friend, on the first Sunday in the month, used to give the boys a brief address, bearing on missionary matters and God's love for all souls, and on more than one occasion he has repeated to them those excellent verses, "The Missionary Penny," and alluded to the great fact that God can save a black man's soul by means of a halfpenny tract. After the address the box, or rather I should say the negro boy, is taken round class after class, and the proceeds of our box last year amounted to over £2-we had no brass buttons nor bad coins. In conclusion I find that if this or any cause is to prosper, two or three golden rules are necessary : FORM 1. Prayer in the school for Mission work. 2. The box should be used regularly, not spasmodically. 3. Keep up interest in work by addresses, and distribution of missionary magazines. A WEAK MEMBER. The Cycle of Prayer. OR several years I have placed in the Bible which we use at family prayer the "Cycle of Prayer for Missions," cut out from the Church Missionary Almanack; and every day in our family petitions we add some for the special mission which comes before us that day; varying the petitions, of course, according to the needs of the mission, so far as I can learn them from the Society's publications. It has been a great joy to us, and perhaps might be to many others; and seems a very simple and easy way to ensure daily prayer for some part of the mission field. Sandown Vicarage, Isle of Wight. W. T. STORRS. Intercession in Church for Missionaries and Converts. IR,-I have been reading the account in your August number of the poor Chinese convert, Li-Min, at the Great Valley, near Hang-Chow, and of the dreadful persecution she has had to undergo at the hands of her fatherin-law, and of the torture inflicted with the "thorny tree" by her brother-inlaw, torture which compelled her to flee to Hang-Chow to the missionaries for protection. May I suggest to those of your supporters who are clergymen the great desirability, in such a case, of giving their congregations some account of the sufferings endured, and of thereupon asking the prayers of the congregation for the person or persons enduring persecution for Christ's sake? I. CAN imagine nothing more calculated to stir up any flagging interest in missionary work than to see the work itself, if only for one day, with our own eyes. It has recently been my great pleasure and privilege to visit many of our C.M.S. stations in the Holy Land, and to see a little more in detail the agencies at work there. I should like to tell the readers of the GLEANER of what is going on now on the plain of Sharon, but before describing the work, it may be as well to tell of a few of the difficulties in the way, and the kind of soil God's husbandmen in Palestine have to till. In the first place, the government is Mohammedan, and in consequence the work among the Moslems differs widely from that among the followers of the false prophet in India, where a professedly Christian government offers protection to the life, if not the property of converts. The proportion of Moslems in the different towns and villages in Palestine varies much-some places being much more fanatical than others, and thus offering fewer inducements to Christians to live there. The Moslem inquirer has to be very guarded and careful in his manner of obtaining instruction, and were he to come forward in his native town and ask to be baptized, his dead body would be all that could be found of him the next day. There are not infrequent cases of converts being sent from one end of the country to the other, that they may make an outward profession of their Christian faith unmolested. The so-called Christian Syrians are a mixture of Latins or Roman Catholics, and Greeks, with some few Copts and Abyssinians in the south, and Maronites in the north. I could not but think how little there was to distinguish between Moslem and Christian in their outer life and manner of acting, beyond the exposed faces of the Christian women. Indeed, the ignorance among all classes of the inhabitants is wofully dense, and all have a deep claim upon us to restore to them in that Holy Land the blessings that the Apostolic missionaries brought to us from thence. The bitterness of the Latins against our missionary efforts is keen. But not so with the Greeks. These do not seem to object to their children coming to our schools in many places; and there has been more than one instance of the Greek schoolmaster in a village becoming, when enlightened, our C.M.S. schoolmaster, and bringing his little flock over to better and holier teaching. Jaffa, or Joppa, as we always preferred to call it, is the chief port of the Holy Land, and the plain of Sharon spreads beyond it to the foot of the Judæan Hills. Here is one of our most This might be done before the service commenced; the clergyman addressing important Mission stations, and as it was the first holy ground the congregation either from the reading-desk or else from the chancel steps. He might also announce that silence would be kept in the church for a few minutes before the beginning of service to give the congregation an opportunity of uniting in prayer and intercession on behalf of those prayed for. Then in the prayer for all conditions of men and in the Litany these confessors in China for Christ's sake and the Gospel's might be remembered. Such a course as I have suggested would help to make missionary work a much more real thing in the minds of our own people, as well as being a means of blessing on those who have to suffer perhaps the loss of all things for Christ's sake. Then, again, in the case of such a peculiarly perilous mission as that to Uganda, might not the prayers of the people be specially asked for it? H. C. RICHMOND, A Lost Day. Ttruly be one whied as THE day on which a Christian has done nothing specially for Christ may in my life, when no opportunity occurs for personal work for our Master, I make an extra offering, according to my means, to the missionary box. It is pleasant to have some act of service to present to Him each evening before we lie down to rest. If all your readers would adopt this plan we should have no "barren tree" among us, and the fruits of Christian love would multiply to the glory of God. C. we stood on, I will take it first. Our visit was short and hurried, so we did not see all we could have wished of the work there; and to gather any fair idea of what is doing, one should spend a Sunday in each Mission station, and see the adults as well as the children. We have, in Jaffa, a good boys' school with two masters, under our missionary, the Rev. J. R. L. Hall. The schools were always a cheerful and pleasant feature, and if the blossom be any earnest of the fruit, we may hope for great things, when the bright intelligent Syrian boy in our Mission school becomes the head of a household appreciating the blessings of Christianity and education. Our Society is relieved of the care of the girls' education by Miss Arnott's Schools, but Mr. Hall's work, besides the oversight of the boys, is evangelistic, and there are well attended Arabic services on Sunday, as well as a service for the English speaking community. As yet there is no church built, but we saw the admirable |