ALL SAINTS’ MOTHERS’ UNION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 252, 21 September 1933, Page 9

ALL SAINTS’ MOTHERS’ UNION.

LEAGUE OF MOTHERS ENTERTAINED. Members of the Palmerston North branch of the League of Mothers were the guests of honour at the monthly meeting of the All Saints’ Mothers’ Union, yesterday. The meeting was held in the Girls’ Club hall, the usual room proving too small for the purpose. The hall was transformed with its bright groupings of spring blossoms, yellow forsythia, flowering currants and primroses, the forms and chairs being arranged in a manner that instantly made for homeliness. Pleasing items were rendered by Mrs Hunt (song) and Mesdames Jamieson and Pritchard (duet), Mrs McNeilly playing the accompaniments.

Rev. A. C. Zimmerman welcomed the visitors, remarking that meetings such as these between sister associations would do much to foster a true Christian fellowship. Mr Zimmerman voiced apologies for absence on behalf of Mesdames Rush, Bagnall and Hewitt, and also Rev. Canon G. Y. Woodward, who was unavoidably absent. Miss Z. A. Sowry was the chief speaker for the afternoon, and dealt with 'the work of the missionary among the depressed classes of India, the “untouchables.” Miss Sowry, who is a former Palmerston North resident, has been working for four years in the mission field in the Kistna district, Southern India, having been latterly stationed in Raghavapuram, and is at present on furlough. The speaker, who was picturesquely dressed in a colourful Indian robe, expressed grateful thanks for the opportunity to meet many old friends and speak to the members. Miss Sowry first told of the various castes, the strict line drawn before them, and then of the depressed or outcastes, which are incomparable even with the worst slums. “The lives of these people,” said Miss Sowry, “are worse than that of slavery—they are treated as unclean animals, to be scorned and overlooked; they must not live near the higher caste Indiaus; were they dying of thirst they must not pollute the wells used by caste Indians. They live in extreme poverty, with little food, their average earning being about 2s a month, and their lot is degradation, poverty, disease and semi-starvation. ’’■

Miss Sowry spoke of the cultural colleges of India, saying that they were created primarily for the higher caste Indians, but the Church was for the benefit of all, particularly the pitiful outcastes. The speaker instanced the case of an Indian outlaw, an outcaste, who, when his son died, lost his faith in his heathen i-eligion and turned to Christianity. Miss Sowry described the excursion of the outcastes to the sacred river, to be washed and exonerated from tlieir sins—not sins as we knew them, but breaches against their religion. And this man, who forsook the sacred river ceremony to bo a Christian, became a staunch follower, as did many others. Christian girls and boys, of outcaste origin, were being trained at the mission schools so that they might spread among their unfortunate fellows the light and hope that was theirs. As evidence of the wonderful work being done among both caste and untouchable Indians, to-day there could be seen people of all castes and those without kneeling side by side in Church, and mingling freely in their social life. The whole order had been changed by Christianity, and the caste people were beginning to realise their terrible mistake in suppressing their fellows, and where there was once pride and brutality towards the untouchables there was now, in many instances, a firm brotherhood. “The wonderful work goes on, not only in the Church, but also in the schools, where former ‘untouchables’ are teachers and leaders, intelligent, clever, and devoted to their work and their great faith,” the speaker added. “As evidence of their great enterprise, a Mothers’ Union is on foot, and the people are happy in their work, regular in their attendance at Church, and ever grateful to the missionary for so completely altering the course of their wretched lives. Even the Brahmins,” said Miss Sowry, “were clamouring for the Christian faith, and pressing for Christian ministers, churches and schools, and she instanced the case of one prominent Brahmin gentleman who begged for his area to be made a centre for the Church, placing liis home and. wealth at its disposal. Where there was Christianity there was no caste difference, said the speaker, who described the scene at church in her area —Brahmins and members of other high castes sitting in complete amity with their brothers, whom they formerly treated as lower than animals. Thousands of baptisms were being made dailv. Miss Sowry bad many tales of-sim-ple native faith to relate. Every year there was an evangelistic campaign, generally in 'May, when it was so hot that the missionaries retired, to the hills. That was the time when Indian teachers, themselves converted, canvassed the villages, preaching the Gospel to the heathens and gathering recruits for the great Christian Church. Always there was the cry for teachers, but unfortunately there was little response, and the hard-working band of English missionaries was sadly in need, of help. Miss Sowry -described her m-ode of teaching, how she, with her companion, Miss Smith, travelled round among the people, camping here one night and in another village the next. She showed several models, including that of a bullock wagon, which was the chief means of travel in India. “Our war is not against flesh and blood,” concluded Miss Sowry, “but against the spiritual forces of sin and wickedness,” and her earnest plea was for prayer for the Indian people in their trials; their struggle tp forget

their false gods, and also for those who were working so desperately for the light and happiness in the lives of these people. Mr Zimmerman proposed a vote of thanks to Miss Sowry- for her illuminating address, and said that all would go home with a greater appreciation of the wonderful w-ork being carried on in the Indian mission fields, and all would be inspired with a greater desire to help in the great mission. Miss Sowry was presented with a pretty posy bv little Norma Davey, and expressed her thanks. * Afternoon tea was served during which the opportunity was taken or renewing old acquaintanceships with Miss Sowry, who later entertained her audience by chanting a collect in Indian, to the accompaniment of little brass cymbals. The ladies were also interested in her collection of quaint wooden figures, cobra skins, etc., which were on view. The hostesses, who had charge of the tea arrangements, were Mesdames Martin, Blockley, Englis, Cutler and H. Brougham (convener). Mrs Wilkinson, a vice-president of the League of Mothers, thanked the Mothers’ Union for the pleasant afternoon accorded them, and extended a general invitation to members of the union to attend the next meeting of the league. She also voiced an apology for absence on behalf of Mrs G. G. Hancox, president of the League of Mothers, who could not attend owing to an indisposition.