h, yes," said Mrs. Thurston, "the scenery in some parts of these
tropical countries is very fine, the foliage is so luxuriant, the
flowers so gorgeous, the skies so brilliant. Indeed, a photograph only
gives the merest hint of the beauties."

She described certain mountain and forest views, also some parks and
gardens she had visited.

"Don't you remember those lines in the missionary hymn, Mr. Stokes,"
Miss Dora asked,

"'Where every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile'?"

Mrs. Thurston told them that the people in India do not live on farms as
many do in this country, but crowd together in towns and villages,
going out from there to work in the fields. She briefly described the
large city of Madras, with its mingled riches and poverty, its streets
crowded with all sorts of people, some of them with hardly any clothing
on, its temples and bazaars, or shops. Then she spoke of Madura, where
her home had been so long.

It was hard to get her listeners, as they sat in this cool, shady
garden, fanned by mountain breezes, to understand how hot it is in
India, especially Southern India. They thought the _punkahs_, or huge
fans, that are in all the churches and larger houses, and which a man
works constantly to cool the air, must be very queer contrivances. The
idea of having to stay indoors during the middle of the day, keeping
very still, lying down, perhaps, did not strike Mrs. Stokes very
favorably.

"That wouldn't suit me," she said--"to lie down in the daytime and be
fanned. I'd want to be up and doing."

"I fear even your energy would flag in that climate," replied Mrs.
Thurston, laughing. "Foreigners are obliged to be very careful or they
could not live there at all. Of course we missionaries were not idle at
the time I speak of. We were studying, writing, or making arrangements
about our work."

She then told a good deal about the way the missionaries work among the
people, taking her hearers with her in imagination to some of the
mission-schools, and to the Sunday services in the little church where
her husband had preached. In doing this she repeated a passage of
Scripture and sang a hymn in the Tamil language--the language used in
that part of India.

"Now I will tell you something of zenana visiting," she said.

"Mrs. Thurston," said Ruth, "wont you please first tell us exactly what
a zenana is?" Ruth knew herself, but she was afraid some of the others
did not.

"The word zenana," repl