A Lady of England 50
‘Another advantage as regards both health and cheerfulness
is that we live on the first floor, and this first floor is
a good height from the ground. One first ascends five steps
to the substantial platform on which the house is built, and
then twenty-nine steps to our apartments. Florrie and I have
each a nice, light, airy bedroom, with bathroom attached. We
shall soon have a pleasant sitting-room, to which this splendid
unfurnished apartment will serve as a vestibule.’
‘_Dec. 9._--I have just come from the City,--we live more
than half-a-mile out of it. O, my Laura, a wide door is open
before us. I was told that Batala is a place where we could not
read the Bible: but I have copied a great deal into my Bible
picture-book; and there is no let or hindrance that I can see
in showing the pictures, and reading the descriptions, which
are God’s own Word.... I find that a good way to begin, when I
enter a house, is by showing off my Zouave.[56] ... Every one is
delighted with it. A good large group of women and children
assemble.... It is harder for me to understand the women, than
it is for them to understand me,--they sometimes jabber so; and
if they mix Panjabi, I am all at sea. In the evenings I intend
to do a little Panjabi with Florrie; and in return I teach her
to play the guitar. I have begun to learn the alphabet, which
has thirty-five letters. We hope next week to have an Urdu
Munshi; but I only intend to have one hour and a half with him
[_i.e._ daily]....
‘In nine days we hope to make a day’s itinerating tour to two
villages. There are little schools in them,--not of course
Christian. The poor women here seem inclined to like me, for
which I am thankful. Florrie told me to-day that she thought
she would have gone into fits of laughter at what was said
of me. My being elderly and unmarried seemed to be giving an
impression that I was a kind of saint or faqir,--perhaps my
being thin and wearing my faithful old green dress added to the
impression. One woman asked me whether I had eaten anything
that day. Florrie thinks that it was from a courteous wish to
feed me, if I had not.
‘I arrived here on Thursday,---this is Saturday. Yesterday I
saw poor, dear B--n at the house of the Catechist. He looked
sad; not as he looked in the Amritsar church. I suspect that
his Cross is still very heavy....
‘I am in excellent health, thank God, and Florrie seems to be
getting all right again. She and I “pull well together, when
yoked twain and twain.” I have not seen a single white face
but hers--not even in travelling here--since I left the dear
Amritsar bungalow. I think that I shall improve more rapidly in
the language here than if I had remained at my first station.
‘What an extraordinary and somewhat romantic position I am
in, for an elderly lady, who in her youth hardly ever stirred
from a London home! How amazed we should have been when we
were girls, if we could have known that I was to find my home
in an Oriental palace--afar from all Europeans--and itinerate
a little in heathen villages! How good God has been to your
loving sister!’
TO MRS. J. BOSWELL.
‘_Dec. 11, 1876._
‘I have not been many days in this my new home, but I could
fill pages and pages with Batala. My time, however, is
precious, and I must not waste too much even in writing to dear
ones.... I was much struck by an incident which occurred to-day.
Four workmen are still engaged in making a fireplace for us.
This morning, as I sat reading, waiting for my Munshi, one of
the men stood near, as if silently watching me. I thought
this strange; but, as he was not rude, I made no remark but
read on. Presently the man said to me, “Is that the Gospel?” I
said, “Would you like to hear the Gospel?” He assented. I read
part of Matthew v.; and the three other men came and listened.
Afterwards at morning prayer I sat very near the open door
leading to the room where two of these men were working at the
fireplace. Two of our Muhammadan servants come now regularly
to family prayers. The men at the fireplace were so perfectly
still that I am sure they were listening to God’s Word.... Of
course, it is quite optional with the servants to attend or
not; and the workmen could easily have drowned my voice, if
they had chosen to do so....
‘I find my walking Zouave so very useful in opening a way,
that I much wish for five or six clever clockwork toys, such
as would take the fancy of natives.... The toys should be rather
small, and such as I could easily show off. The floors are so
rough, that I am obliged to make my Zouave walk on the top of
his own tin box, short as it is. I feel the toys, if really
clever, so important....’
TO MRS. E----.
‘_Dec. 14, 1876._
‘I dare say that you will be rather curious to know how I like
my new home. I like it very much indeed. I cannot tell you what
the city is like; for though I have been into it every day
but to-day, I cannot say that I know anything of its general
appearance, except that the streets are extremely narrow, and
that the houses appear to be made of brick. The fact is that I
never go into the city, except shut up in a duli, a kind of box
with no window. Unless I push the curtain a little back, I see
nothing, and nobody can see me. I am rather careful about the
proprieties; and to be carried in a box is the correct thing.
My duli is red; Florrie’s moderately white.
‘Now fancy yourself at my side, dearest Aunt. I will give you a
kind of rough idea of what is said and done, after my duli has
stopped at the door of one of the four Zenanas now open to us
at Batala. I will suppose C. M. T. alone, as she sometimes is.
‘C. M. T. gets out of her box, and enters,--perhaps mounting a
small, rather dark staircase. Presently she finds herself in
a place where there are perhaps a dozen or twenty women and
children.
‘C. M. T. smiles, says, “Salaam,” and informs her who seems
the chief woman that she is happy to see her. A bed or perhaps
an arm-chair is politely put for C. M. T. to sit down on.... C.
M. T. begins by showing off a clockwork figure that can walk.
Women and children look on with curiosity and pleasure. Says C.
M. T., “The doll is cleverer than the idols; it can walk.” The
house being Muhammadan, the observation is approved of; and C.
M. T. amuses the good folk by a few lively remarks as to the
doll being weak or tired, etc.
‘Then C. M. T. says, “I have made a very long journey from
Europe by sea. I have come thousands of miles. Why have I
come?” Silence amongst my auditors. “I have come to give good
news.” They listen with interest. “Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners. This is good news. We are all sinners.
He died for us,” etc. None look angry; some look pleased; some
look tenderly at me, as if they thought me very kind to come
such a long way to give them good news.
‘Then a Bible picture-book is opened; perhaps the story of
the Fall read. Muhammadans believe a great deal of the Old
Testament; one can talk to them of “Father Adam,” and “Mother
Eve,” without shocking them in the least. I cannot talk
much,--very little indeed,--but I can say such things as I have
written above, and tell the dear women that I am happy, that I
do not fear death at all, because I believe that the Lord bore
the punishment of my sins on the Cross.
‘I have not met with any discourtesy. There are three things
in my favour--my age; my family being of the Sarkar-log;[57]
and my receiving no salary.... Another thing which seems to
awaken a sort of interest is the fact of my being unmarried. I
have met with the idea that there is some merit in celibacy. I
repudiated it, and said that in our Book marriage is spoken of
as an honourable thing.’
TO MRS. HAMILTON.
‘_Dec. 16, 1876._
‘We never drive _in_ Batala, but on the roads outside. Of
course we often meet Natives. Some of them salaam to us, and I
make a point of bowing with marked courtesy when they do so.
One feels the salaam a breaking of the ice. Those who have
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