done by the road-side, so He hid
you."

We have children with us who would not have been safe for a day had we
lived near a large town or near a railway. The stretch of open country
between us and Palamcottah (the Church Missionary Society centre of the
Tinnevelly district), to cover which, by bullock-cart, takes as long as
to travel from London to Brussels, is not considered very safe for
solitary Indian travellers, as the robber clan frequent it, and this is
an added protection for the children. Several times, to our knowledge,
unwelcome visitors have been deterred from making a raid upon us, by the
rumour of the robbers on the road. We are also most mercifully quite out
of the beat of the ordinary exploiter of missions; few except the really
keen care for such a journey; so that we get on with our work
uninterrupted by anything but the occasional arrival of welcome friends
and comrades. These, when they visit us for the first time, are usually
much astonished to find something almost civilised out in the wilds, and
they walk round with an air of surprise, and quite inspiring
appreciation, being kindly pleased with little, because they had looked
for less.

[Illustration: THE COURTYARD.]

The compound in which the nurseries are built is a field, bounded on
three sides by fields, and on the fourth by the bungalow compound. The
Western Ghauts with their foothills make it a beautiful place.

The buildings are not beautiful. With us, as elsewhere, doubtless, even
the break of a gable in the straight, barn-like roof makes a difference
in the estimate, and we have never had a margin for luxuries. But the
walls are coloured a soft terra-cotta, the roofs are a dull red; while
the porches (hidden by the palm trunks in the photograph) are a mass of
greenery and bloom; and the garden at the moment of writing is rejoicing
in over a hundred lilies, brilliant yellow and flame colour, each head
with its many flowers rising separate and radiant in the sunshine. Then
we have oleanders, crimson and pink and white, and little young hibiscus
trees, crimson and rose and cream. The arches in the new nursery
garden are covered with the lilac of morning-glory; and the Prayer-room
in the middle of the garden is a mass of violet passion-flower, the
pretty pink antigone, and starry jessamine. The very hedges at this
season are out in yellow flower, and a trellis round the nursery kitchen
is a delight of colour; so though our buildings are