Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/193

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Hindus will not come to the missionary; he must go to them. Caste keeps them out of our houses, and superstition makes them fear our churches. If we desire to preach the truth to the thousands who dwell in city, town, and village, we must go forth from house and church into the highways and byways of the land. In the streets of the city, and under the pepultree of the village, multitudes will give him a ready hearing. He may go almost anywhere, if he be courteous and discreet, and address the people on the way of salvation. He may take his stand at the street-corner, or in front of the village temple, in the rest-house, or before the school-house door, in a portico, or on a shop-step, and preach to those who will soon cluster around him.

Street-preaching in a great city like Madras is far from being a romantic work. In place of the simplicity and deference of a country population, they are noted for keenness, boldness, and vice. Spirituous liquors, now sold at almost every corner under the auspices of a