The Garhwal Mission, North India
By L. J. BURGESS
The results of school work among the heathen are not seen immediately, and cannot be counted by the number of converts baptized. The school work affects communities and districts, and the light from the school shines out for many miles around. Our boys come from villages five, ten, twenty, and forty miles distant. They stay at the school for a month and then return home for a supply of food. Whatever influence the school has had upon their lives is carried with them to their homes and must affect the other members of the family. Thus the lives of many are touched and helped to some extent, at least. It often happens that when a boy in a mission school takes his stand for the gospel, especially if he is a high-caste boy, other parents become frightened and take their boys out of the school, lest they, too, be brought under the same influence. Thus for a time the school work comes to a standstill. After a while things quiet down again and the work picks up. Realizing what it means for one of these boys to take his stand publicly, the teacher moves cautiously. He sows the seed of truth and tries to make the boys Christians at heart and give them a foundation for an intelligent faith, then when the time comes that the Spirit of the Lord leads them to make an open profession they are prepared to stand. Some boys come to the school and remain a year, and then are unable to continue. They leave the school, but the influence of what they have learned remains with them as a seed which will sometime bring forth fruit.