Page:The Land of the Veda.djvu/526

516 of the Methodist Episcopal Church was planted, in 1857, and from which the founder of the mission, with his wife and children, had to ﬂy for their lives in May of that year. On the very ground now occupied by the house to the left stood the home of “Maria.”

The site of our mission is on the edge of Bareilly, a city of one hundred and twelve thousand souls, hid in the trees of the picture. The Mission-House, where Brother and Sister Thomas and Miss Swain reside, is the tiled building to the left. Just over it is seen the top of the Orphanage, which is a square inclosure; in the foreground is the school-house, with its bell-tower; and in front of the school—house is the public road into the city.

I feel assured, with these reminiscences before my mind, that, were Maria alive to-day to read this account of what God has wrought for her sex in Bareilly since the 31st of May, 1857, and that, too, on the very ground occupied by her own homestead, her simple, gentle heart would thrill with a joy and gratitude for the priceless victories won for woman and Christianity in Rohilcund more intense and appreciative than can be bestowed upon these pages even by those who in this land may read them with the deepest interest. The reason is manifest. She knew the difficulties to be overcome, and the darkness to be illuminated, as none here can ever know it, and as even our missionaries to-day in India, who have “entered into our labors,” cannot adequately realize amid their more hopeful opportunities and wider doors of usefulness. We were then in the valley of vision; around us were the moral skeletons, “very many and very dry”—no life nor sign of life—and, in our sadness and struggling hope in “Him that raises the dead, and calls the things that are not as though they were,” the Divine Master was challenging our faith in his power. “Son of man, can these dry bones live?” All that we could answer was, “O Lord God, thou knowest!”

But a change has come, and by means which we then little anticipated. In that valley of the Ramgunga Maria died for Jesus, and the raging heathen, as they exulted over her lifeless body, concluded that they had killed the last woman of their race who would