The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 8

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8 : THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

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neously with her right hand passed on the question
to her neighbor, the neighbor doing likewise to the
third pupil. In this way no sentence had to be
repeated by the missionary. With his left hand he,
at the same time, spoke to the deaf in the audience,
and with his lips he repeated orally to the hearing
audience the entire service.

Try to picture your missionary slowly and labo-
riously spelling word for word of the Catechism
into the hands of this class or writing slowly, in
the script used by the blind, sentence after sentence
of his instruction for this class. Then again try
to picture to yourself the missionary speaking and
spelling with one hand to the deaf and hearing in
his audience, while the other hand questions and
confirms the blind who cannot hear! We must
indeed admire and praise the love of God, who has
given ways and means that such blind-deaf may be
brought to the knowledge of the Savior.

And we must let these spiritual conquests over
the power of darkness encourage us to forge ahead
in this splendid work and to bring increased gifts,
so that many others who are in similar darkness,
bereft of their necessary senses, may be brought into
the light as were these three souls.

a

A Missionary Trip to Ovari.

May I invite you to go to Ovari with me, fol-
lowing the same route I took a few years ago?

Ovari lies about fifty miles from Nagercoil, in
South India. In order to reach it, we no longer
travel by the antiquated ox-cart, but in our trusty
Ford. We travel east by north until we strike the
shores of the Gulf of Manar.

However, before we leave Nagercoil, we shall
have to make very careful and rather comprehen-
sive preparations for the trip. Water must be
boiled, cooled, and bottled, as it will be well-nigh
impossible to obtain a thirst-quenching and refresh-
ing drink of water at Ovari, almost all water in
India being shockingly polluted. Also foodstuffs,
camp cots, bedding, mosquito netting, several
changes of light clothing, and toilet articles, in
short, everything we may need during the next three
or four days, must be assembled, packed, and stowed
away. There are no hotels or boarding-houses in
Ovari. Neither can the poor native Christians show
us hospitality in their narrow and dingy huts.

The road from Nagercoil to Ovari is metaled,
that is, macadamized, in many stretches. Then

again it becomes very rough, so that traveling on
it becomes a real torture.

Though the sun is high in the heavens and
beats down with full force, ready to smite us
(Ps. 121, 6), we are protected against its rays by
the canopy of the car and, occasionally, by the
shade of the overhanging and intertwining limbs
of the majestic banyans lining both sides of the
roadway.

Here and there in the rice-fields you see people
working in the water, which rises to their knees.
They are transplanting the rice and clearing it of
weeds. Now we pass a field of cotton. The people
to the right are digging peanuts. That mound to
the left is a termite hill, very probably inhabited
by the deadly cobra. ‘The group of thatched mud
huts you see over there is an outcaste village. The
village has no name. It is a mere appendage to the
smaller, but rather more pretentious group of build-
ings in the neighborhood. This is the caste village
and may be named for some idol-god. The out-
caste people would not be tolerated in the caste
village. Certain streets are absolutely forbidden
to them.

In the distance you will notice a structure sur-
rounded by a high enclosure. The tower is covered
with sculpture representing scenes from Hindu
mythology. The sculpture is indescribably indecent
and shockingly filthy, as is also the sculpture in
the temples. The sheet of water near the temple
is sacred. In it the heathen bathe their sacred cows
and bulls and themselves. The water is also used
for drinking and household purposes. The women
we see are taking their religious bath. In spite of
being in the water, they are modestly clad. The
men wear only a loin cloth.

It is surprising to note how few living creatures
we see on the trip, if we except human beings.
Occasionally a serpent may hurry away through
the high grass in the adjoining field. Now and
then a bird flies overhead, but there are no wild
animals of any kind, no jungles that harbor lions
or tigers or lesser game. As the landscape is almost
denuded of trees, wild animals would not be able to
find shelter.

We are now coming nearer to Ovari. The char-
acter of the scenery changes. Trees are becoming
much more scarce. Neither do such as we do see
appear to flourish very well. There is very little
agriculture. The soil is sandy.

Several miles this side of Ovari we are forced
to abandon our Ford at a little village. Though