10:21, "One thing thou lackest," led to much
heart-searching. A short time before leaving Philadelphia she
heard Phillips Brooks preach from Malachi 4:2. "A wonderful
sermon," she termed it, and she greatly enjoyed a talk by him on
tithing, which she determined to act upon.

We have no special record of Dr. Swain's years of study in the
Woman's Medical College, but we may be sure that she improved
every opportunity to perfect herself in her chosen calling. Her
instructors were her warm friends and she corresponded with some
of them after she went to India. Dean Bodley, in one of her
letters, gave the names of nine young women in the college who
were preparing for medical missionary work, and Dr. Swain made a
note of them, saying that she must write to them before their
graduation. Two of these ladies went to India as medical
missionaries.

CALL TO SERVICE IN INDIA

The story of Dr. Swain's call to go to India has been told many
times. Mrs. D.W. Thomas, who, with her husband, had charge of the
girls' orphanage of the Methodist Mission, had long felt the need
of efficient medical aid for the women and children of India and
had been doing what she could to alleviate the sufferings of those
with whom she came in contact. She had even thought that she would
herself study medicine when she should go to America for change
and rest. In the meantime she was instructing a class of the older
girls in the orphanage in physiology and hygiene, both in English
and the vernacular, with the hope that some time they might have
regular medical training. She talked with native gentlemen and
with English officials of the great need for intelligent medical
treatment for the women and children of the country, especially
for those who live in seclusion, and of her hope that a lady
medical missionary might be sent to India. A native gentleman so
thoroughly approved of the idea that he offered to defray all the
expenses of a medical school or class if a lady physician could be
sent from America to take charge of it.

Mrs. Thomas's letter of appeal to Mrs. J.T. Gracey, a former
missionary, for her assistance in the matter, led Mrs. Gracey to
inquire at the Philadelphia Woman's Medical College if a suitable
person could be found among the graduates, who would accept a call
from the Woman's Union Missionary Society of America to go as a
medical missionary to India. Miss Clara A. Swain, M.D., was named
as one fitted by both professional