d about Jesus at school, and responded in her simple way;
but was suddenly taken from school, and shut up in the back part of the
house and not allowed to learn any more. "Like a little dove fluttering
in a cage, so she seemed to me. But she is a timid dove, and the house
is full of wickedness. How will she hold out against it? By God's grace
I was allowed to see her for one moment alone. I gave her a little
Gospel. She kissed it with her eyes" (touched her eyes with it), "and
hid it in her dress."
Only a little while ago we traced a bright young Brahman girl to a
certain Temple house, and by means of one of our workers we made friends
with her. The child, a little widow, was ill, and was sent to the
municipal hospital for medicine. It was there our worker met her, and
the child whispered her story in a few hurried words. She had been
kidnapped (she had not time to tell how), and shut up in the Temple
house, and told she must obey the rules of the house and it was useless
to protest. "If we could help you," she was asked, "would you like to
come to us?" The child hesitated--the very name "Christian" was
abhorrent to her--but after a moment's doubt she nodded, and then
slipped away. Our worker never saw her again. The conversation must have
been noticed by the child's escort, and reported. She was sent off to
another town, and all attempts to trace her failed.
And the god to whom these young child-lives are dedicated? In South
India all the greater symbols of deity are secluded in the innermost
shrine, the heart of the Temple. In our part of the country the
approach to the shrine is always frequented by Brahman priests, who
would never allow the foreigner near, even if he wished to go near.
"Far, far! remove thyself far!" would be the immediate command, did any
polluting presence presume to draw near the shrine. There are idols by
the roadside, and these are open to all; but they are lesser creations.
The Great, as the people call that which the Temple contains, is
something apart. It is to these--The Great--that little children are
dedicated; the whole Temple system is worked in their name.
"Have you ever seen the god to whom your little ones would have been
given?" is a question we are often asked; and until a few days ago we
always answered, "Never." But now we have seen it, seen it unexpectedly
and unintentionally, as we waited for an opportunity to talk to the
crowds of people who had assembled to see it being
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