see them looking round about them. Some passengers gaze
listlessly out of the windows of the train, but to all appearance
without much interest, except at stations where there is a crowd on
the platform. Even the buildings or shop windows of a city only
attract a languid amount of attention; but a street quarrel, or a war
of words between two excited females, will soon draw a large crowd.

The brightness of the moon and the glory of the stars, astonishingly
brilliant as they are when seen through the clear Indian atmosphere,
does not seem to excite admiration, in spite of the divine attributes
which Hindus ascribe to such objects. Even ordinary secular education
does not do much to stimulate appreciation of the beauties in Nature.
Christianity does something in this direction by extending the range
of mental vision to the possibilities of the heavenly country, and the
knowledge of God as the Creator excites a measure of interest in the
objects of His creation. But even amongst Indian Christians any keen
perception of the beauty of scenery by land or on the sea-coast is
defective.

Drawing is a subject which is now extensively taught in schools in
India, and it is a branch of education which is helping to train the
Indian mind to observe and appreciate form and colour. At one time the
many lads who came to the Mission-house for old Christmas cards
scornfully rejected even the most beautiful pictures of flowers as
being of no worth. Pictures of birds, or beasts, or people they sought
for eagerly, because such objects came within their range of
appreciation, but the beauty of a flower as such they did not
understand.

Loose flowers without stalk or leaves are offered in temples, or they
are strung on a thread and hung on the god like a necklace. But the
value of the offering is in the scent of the flower, and not in the
beauty of its colour or form. The Yerandawana village children often
come to the church with their cap or pocket filled with flowers
plucked in this fashion, which they present as an offering. We have a
large brass bowl in which we receive such gifts, which is then placed
on the altar, with the prayer that those who have thus shown their
goodwill may be led on to give their own hearts to God.

The elaborate garlands which are used so largely as a complimentary
gift to those whom it is thought desirable to honour are also valued
for their scent rather than for any intrinsic beauty which they may
possess