Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/165

Rh effort to benefit the women of India. Certainly, no Christian could look without pleasure upon the group of girls daily collected upon the verandah at Royapooram. Gathered from the houses of the poor, and stimulated to cleanliness and neatness by little rewards, their appearance formed a pleasing contrast to that of the girls of the same class met in the streets. In their faces, too, there was a brightness, vivacity, and refinement that showed the blessing of God upon the teachings, conversation, and prayer of a Christian woman. On the Sabbath, the higher classes of girls, dressed in clean skirts and jackets, and a light white robe thrown over one shoulder and wound around the waist, with their glossy black hair neatly turned up and filled with flowers, formed a most attentive and intelligent part of the missionary's audience.

It is a matter of great regret that these girls are taken from school usually before they are twelve years old, and often are no more heard of by their teachers, as they are married at about this age. Yet the seed sown will not wholly perish; though we see not the fruit in them, it may appear in their children. We cannot doubt that God will use the truth thus