Among the Santals by W. A. Barlow

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 28, 1912

Among the Santals

By W. A. Barlow

W. A. BARLOW

I am glad to say that at the beginning of last year we reopened our Santal Industrial School at Babumohal, with twenty students. We had a class of fine young men, and they enjoyed their studies in Santali and Hindi, and a few began Bengali. They learn the Scriptures and hymns very well indeed, and are able to sing quite a number of the Christian songs from our own Seventh-day Adventist Santali hymn-book, which was printed at the Watchman Press, Karmatar, by our dear departed brother Elder J. C. Little. The students also enjoy the three hours’ manual labor in the mission garden, raising fruit and vegetables; the chief vegetables is tomatoes, and we are now sending them to Calcutta for canning, which will help the school a little. The papaya fruit will also bring in some financial help, and will increase year by year. We have just taken in some more land, and we intend to set out quite a number of papaya plants every year. It is a very good fruit, and sells readily in the market.

Several of the students will soon be ready for baptism. They will take up village school and evangelistic work among the Santals and others scattered among the hills and forests of this district. The cut shows two teachers who were educated in our school at Simultala some years ago, and are now Seventh-day Adventist teachers and evangelists. The one at the left teaches our Industrial School; the other is in charge of a distant village school, of about twenty-five boys. The schoolhouse is made of branches from the trees growing near by. I am glad to say that now the villagers have built a schoolhouse, where the teacher and his family can live, as well as have a good place for his school work. We have been camping out near that school, visiting the homes of students, those from both our Industrial School and the village school. Everywhere we go the people ask us to send them a teacher. I tell them that as soon as some of the best and brightest students are ready in the Industrial School, we will send them a teacher. We find that those who are trained in our own school are much better and more successful in village schools than those who may come from other missions, and so we are doing our best to prepare the young men for this important and Christ-like work. As soon as Dr. Mann is ready to start his medical training-school for native workers, we hope to have two good Santali workers ready to go and get a good, practical medical missionary training, and then we shall want them to return to us.

Babumohal, India.