Presidency, invited us to a New Year's
garden-party. An open-air gathering of any sort on the first day of
January would have been a novelty to us, but this one found the
atmosphere so balmy and the vegetation so green, that such a party was
a positive delight. The avenues of approach to the governor's residence
were lined with the body-guard of his excellency, stationed in twos
along the way, and clad in scarlet The reception took place under a
wide-spreading tree, on a spacious lawn. There were as many as a
thousand guests. It was a gay and beautiful scene. Hindu and Moslem,
Parsee and Christian, all met together. It was an exhibition of loyalty
to the British Crown, as well as a proof that just government may yet
weld all India's classes and castes together. Lord Pentland spoke to us
most pleasantly of certain members of his family whom we had met in
America, and Lady Pentland showed herself to be a charming hostess.

But a reception still more charming to us was the reception which the
Rochester men gave us that same New Year's night, at the bungalow of
Doctor Ferguson, close to the Day Memorial Chapel, where the sessions of
the conference were held. At least ten of our graduates sat down to
supper, together with their wives. Subsequently, from adjoining rooms,
other members of the conference came in to the New Year's reception,
which is an annual affair. The United States consul dropped in, with a
few other guests, until the total number could not have been far from
eighty. It was like a family gathering. When I remembered that the
Telugu Mission was once called "The Lone-Star Mission," and was in
danger of being given up, and when I noted that it now numbers one
hundred and sixty-eight churches and a church-membership of more than
seventy thousand, I could but say, "What hath God wrought!"

X

THE TELUGU MISSION

Madras is the greatest city of South India, and ranks next to Calcutta
and Bombay in thrift and importance. Tamil and Telugu are the two
languages of the extensive Madras Presidency, the former prevailing most
to the south, the latter to the north. They are cognate tongues, and
both are derived from the Sanskrit. Our American Congregationalists have
done most for the Tamils; we Baptists have done most for the Telugus.
The Telugus number twenty-six millions. Though Madras is near their
southern border, it is the best starting-point for our description.

Next to our mission in Burma, the Telug