Led by a Baby

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 5, 1906

THE baby was alive, although its mother died. The Lushai tribes of eastern Bengal in such cases place the baby in a small pot, and bury it alive with its dead mother. But when its mother died, the missionary told them that was wicked. The Lushais answered, “Wicked or not, there is nothing else to do.” The missionaries tried to coax a Lushai woman to nurse the poor little thing, but the woman shuddered at the thought of nursing a dead woman’s baby. They tried to persuade the people to feed it cow’s milk, but they only laughed at this.

Then the missionaries took the little boy of skin and bones to their own home, and gave it a bottle full of good warm milk. In due time the baby began to grow fat. This was a miracle among the people. The baby is a wonder, because

although his mother is dead, he still lives. More than a year has passed since his thin little lips first laid hold of the bottle, and he has already taught his kinsmen of the hills a lesson, for they bury babies through ignorance, rather than stony-heartedness. He is also becoming a living link between the Lushais and the missionaries, and is preparing the way for them to teach the people the love of a Heavenly Father.—Selected.