Among the Last Letters Elder J. C. Little Wrote His Wife
By J. C. Little
CHARKULLI, July 29, 1910. “This is the first opportunity that I have had out here in the jungles to write you a letter, so I will start in when we left Gopalgunge, day before yesterday. We left somewhat after two o’clock, and after an hour or so found ourselves in a stretch of rice-fields, reaching as far as we could see in the distance, and covered from two to several feet deep with water. The villages were quite thickly dotted over the fields, and looked as if the ground had been thrown up for the houses to be built on.
“We had thought we would get to Patriahghatta by evening; but somehow we made slow progress, as a rain-storm came on about dark, so we stuck down some bamboo, tied the boat to them, and prepared to spend the night. The boys lighted a fire in the end of our boat, and also in Brother Podar’s, and proceeded to cook dinner, as none of us had had anything to eat since about noon. Brother Podar had prepared our breakfast before eleven; for some reason Brother Watson did not get around in time, so I waited till twelve, and then decided not to wait any longer, as I had eaten nothing that day except two mangoes, which I had bought on the steamer; but just then Brother Watson came in, so we ate together. Well, we had dinner that night about eight o’clock. I felt no untoward results.” “The next morning, long before I got up, they were well on the way to Patriahghatta, getting there about eight or half past. We first visited a brother and his wife and two little girls, one ten and the other five years of age. They are the only Christians in their little village, but there is a large family of Christians half a mile away. As the first brother has no boat, he does not see them very often. There is another family of Hindus living next to him, and that makes up their little village. Patriahghatta is made up of about a hundred of these villages, some of them being large, and some small like this little one.” “The next place that we visited was the large family referred to, about half a mile away. This family is in fairly good circumstances; but not having had a visit from our people for five years, since L. G. Mookerjee lived in Gopalgunge, before he went to America, they had given up the truth. We had a meeting with them, and organized a Sabbath-school there. They promised to obey the truth, and said that if regular work could be carried on by a worker, a number of Hindus would be converted. The poor people are like sheep without a shepherd. They have a number of young people, and want a school.” “Then we went to visit a young brother and his wife and little child, also his wife’s mother, who is with them. Though alone, they had been faithful to the truth. We had a meeting with them, then left Brother Podar’s boat, and went on about a mile to see another brother. Baroda stayed behind to prepare breakfast. We found this brother, with his wife and five children, ranging in age from a boy about eighteen to a baby about a year and a half old, and we had a little meeting with them. They also will join, as far as they are able, with the above Sabbath-school. By the time we had returned, it was after noon, and we had our breakfast. We then started for Jamilla, which we reached shortly before dark. Here Brother Darak, who was baptized at our conference, is living, with his family, and some others also who are following the truth to a greater or less extent. There are a number of children and young people here, and they want a little building that can be used as church and school. We held a meeting there this morning, and about twenty-five persons, besides children, were present. We organized a Sabbath-school.” “We just arrived here before I began this letter, which was a little before twelve o’clock, and our breakfast will be ready soon. We got some milk and eggs taken from the cow, so it ought to be on the way this morning; saw the milk boys good. Eggs are rather hard to get, or have been thus far. We have been kept in so close on the boat that at every possible opportunity we have gotten off and walked; but last night was our first opportunity to get a good walk. Then we used a brother’s yard to tramp back and forth in for about an hour.”