Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/178

150 day enter the mission church, and see the rows of boys seated on the matted floor, and from the pulpit look down upon their upturned faces, they would feel as did our Saviour when he said, “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not." We cannot believe that the seed thus sown in tender soil will all be lost.

The school-house at Sanjuvarayan-pettah is a single room with plastered brick walls, tiled roof, and earthen floor. It stands immediately on the street, and so answers well as a place for preaching during the day. Formerly evening services were held here by the missionary at the station, and the attendance was very large. Just opposite to the school, however, stands a heathen temple. As will be supposed, it was far from agreeable to the priests that hearers should be flocking into the little school-house to learn that idols were vanity, and idolatry sin. They therefore managed to have special services when the missionary preached, and made so hideous a noise with trumpets, drums, and cymbals, that not a word could be heard. I frequently addressed the people here by day, but was never troubled by the keepers of the temple. The wonder is, not that they oppose