The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1901, Page 7

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 7

Dasammah, the Little Heroine. They put the fire to her feet and let it burn
them, and the pain was very great. Then}

When Dasammah came to the mission school they said, ‘‘Now will you promise that you! The missionary lady dressed her feet, and
in India she was about twelve years of age. will not become a Christian?’’ Her answers| after a time Dasammah said, ‘‘You have a
She was married, but her husband allowed | remained the same: ‘‘I am, I am a Christian.’’ | Bible woman who visits in the homes and
her to attend school. She used to take her After a time the pain was so great she/ teaches the women; I should so like to help

seat back in a corner, and draw her cloth | fainted away. he men were afraid she would |her to tell the women about Christ. I could

she got down and crawled on her hands and
knees.

closely over her face, so that she
should not be much noticed; but
when the missionary lady was teach-
ing the Bible lesson Dasammah al-
ways seemed to lean forward and to
be drinking in every word.

One day when Dasammah went
home she told her husband that she
did not believe that the idols which
they worshiped were true gods, but
that Jesus Christ was the true Saviour.
When her husband, heard this he was
much alarmed, for he feared she
would become a Christian. So the
next morning he said to her, ‘‘Get
your things ready quickly; I’m go-
ing to take you to live at my mother’s
house; be ready to leave in an hour.’’

Dasammah thought of her Bible,
but she must not be seen in the street
at that time in the morning. So she
called a little neighbor girl of lower
caste, and said to her, ‘‘Run quickly
to the missionary’s house and get
that book we study in the school—
the Bible;’’? and that was the only
thing she took with her when she
went to a distant village where there
was not another Christian, to live with
her husband’s mother.

After a time her husband died sud-
denly, and then, as is the custom in
India, her relatives treated her very
cruelly, and charged her with the
death of her husband, saying she had
used charms or something which had
caused his death.

Dasammah said it was the will of
God that he should die. Then they
said, ‘‘It is because you have given
up worshiping our gods, and are wor-
shiping the Christian God. Now you
must come back and worship our
gods, and promise that you will not
become a Christian.’’

“Oh! how can I promise that ?”’
said she. ‘‘I do believe in Christ;
T am a Christian.’’

They spoke with her many times, = i A Hy
but she could only give them the one answer—| die, and that the English Government mig 4
“T am a Christian.’’ call them to account for their conduct, so they |

THE PRAYING CHILD.

eee eee ee SSS

live on very little; two shillings a
month would be quite sufficient to
buy my food. If you could find some
one who would pay that for me, I
would spend my whole time teaching
the women in the homes.’’

The good missionary lady fur-
nished her with the necessary means,
and Dasammah is now a Bible woman,
and very happy in her work. — Seven
Years in Ceylon.

The Captain’s Example.

A captain about to take command
of a ship assembled his crew on the
quarter-deck and addressed them in
a hearty British manner. When he
had given his orders, he concluded
by saying, ‘‘Now, my lads, there is
one law I am determined to make,
and I insist upon its being kept.

_ Perhaps, however, it is more a favor

than a command that I am about to
make, and, as a British officer, I ex-
pect you will immediately grant it.”’
‘tAy, ay,”’ cried all present, and the
captain proceeded. ‘‘Well, my lads,
it is this, that you must allow me to
swear the first oath in this ship. No
man on board must swear an oath
before Ido. Will you grant me this
favor?’’ ‘The men stared, and for a
moment were at a loss for a reply.
‘‘We were,’ one said, ‘‘taken all
aback.’’ Another describes them ‘‘as
all brought upstanding.’’ After a
little hesitation, however, they, as
one man, cried, ‘‘Ay, ay, sir,’’? so
kind and prepossessing was their new
captain’s manner. Swearing on that
ship was abolished. — Selected.

Avoid Temptation.

Secker wisely says—‘‘To pray
against temptation, and yet to rush
into occasions, is to thrust your

fingers into the fire, and then pray that they
may not be burned. The fable saith, ‘that

i y i f th 1 what she
One day the men of the house banished all untied her hands and feet, and then carried |the butterfly enquired of the ow

the women to the women’s apartments, and/ her away into a

dark room and left her there. | should do with the candle which had singed

i i jousness re-| her wings. The owl counseled her not so much
taking Dasammah ont into the yard, they/In the middle of the night consc " :
aire four Pics ise i Seat and tied turned to her, and she got up and felt for the | as to behold smoke.’ If you hold the stirrup,

her hands and feet to these stakes. Then| door, and found it was open. : me
they said to her, ‘‘Now we will bring fire and | and made straight for the spate ee
burn your feet, unless you promise that you'll) It took her that night, and the next . 2 1 rs
not become a Christian.’? But she answered: | late into the next night to reach it. When she;

She went out | no wonder Satan gets into the saddle.”

—_—=- oo

You can not repent too soon, because you

| n it may be too late.
“I do believe in Christ; I am a Christian.’’’ could travel no farther on her poor sore feet, ' do not know how s00 y

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