Part I, Chapter IX — The Field of the Foreign Missionary Society
At the close of the year 185 1, after EUore had been abandoned as a station, the American EvangeHcal Lutheran Mis- sion in India, under the control of The Foreign Missionary Society of the General Synod, occupied three strategic points in the Telugu country: Guntur on the south, Rajahmundry on the north, and the Palnad district, west of Guntur. Apart from Heyer's work in the Palnad district, however, practically no work was done outside of the towns of Guntur and Rajahmundry. Valett left Rajahmundry soon after his transfer to The Foreign Missionary Society. He had been in India seven years and desired to return to Germany on furlough. He was permitted to do so and left Rajahmundry March 9, 185 1. After the expiration of his furlough The Foreign Missionary Society's executive committee dispensed with his services on the ground of financial stringency. He returned to India, however, as a missionary of the London Missionary Society, and labored at Bellary and Chicacole for seven years, from 1852 to 1859. Later he accepted a pastorate in Hannover, Germany, became Superintendent with residence at Sand- stedt, near Bremen, and continued in this ofl&ce until 1887, when he retired on a pension. He died in Bremen on March 23, 1892, aged seventy-nine years. Heise continued the mission work at Rajahmundry. In an official communication to Rev. Jacob Z. Senderling, corresponding secretary of The Foreign Missionary Society, he wrote, on April 7, 185 1, as follows: "I shall endeavor to give you, according to your just wishes, a brief description of the place and district of Rajahmundry from the missionary point of view, and also a short
96 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDIA account of the mission work and the present state of the mission.
"By the natives the town Rajahmundry is called Rajahmahendrawaram, which means the great King Indrudu's gift. It is a very ancient town of about 14,000 inhabitants, situated on the N. E. side of the Godavery River, and is the seat of two judges, one collector and two assistant collectors. Four miles to the south is Dowlaishwaram, a place recently become of much importance in consequence of the anicut or dam, built four miles long across the Godavery, preventing the water from flowing into the sea in its natural course and leading it by a great system of canals into the surrounding country for irrigation purposes. In this great work Col. Cotton, a sincere follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, and about twelve engineers are employed. Under them are a great many sub-officers and about nine thousand native laborers. To the south of Dowlaishwaram lies the very fertile Godavery delta with its densely populated villages and towns, among which there are several of importance for missionary opera- tions, such as Coconada and Koringa. Two other important places are Pittapur and Peddapur, residences of native princes. Only two miles from Peddapur is Samulkot, a large place and a military station with one regiment of native in- fantry.
"The population of the Rajahmundry district is about 700,000. The people generally surround the preacher, seem- ingly paying attention, but the larger number of hearers I dare scarcely compare with the wayside of our Lord's parable, for they do not allow the Word to reach their hearts. There are others, however, who are dissatisfied with their philo- sophical religion and appear to be more inclined to pay heed to the Gospel. In general the people are of a civil and oblig- ing disposition and are given to their religion and customs, because of their reverence for everything that has come down from their forefathers, and because they are carnally minded. . . . The visible fruits of our missionary labors are rather meagre. Only four adults have been received into the Church by Holy Baptism. Considering our unworthiness,
THE FIELD OF THE FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY 97 the difficulties with which we must contend and the power of Satan in the land, I have no doubt but that you feel grateful with us for these firstfruits. Besides the daily devotions with our servants, which others are permitted to attend, we conduct a divine service in Telugu every Sunday, and every Sunday evening an English service for the English residents and East Indians who desire to attend. Recently we also began Telugu services in Dowlaishwaram. We did so at the invitation of a number of Christian people residing there. Since Mr. Valett has left me alone at the station, I have not been able to hold regular services there on Sunday, but go during the week to preach and examine the school which is supported by one of the engineers at work on the anient. Preaching and conversation with inquirers who come to our homes occupy most of our time. Though we have not many converts, we perceive that the name of our blessed Lord is being made known in this district.
"The number of boys in our English school, which during the past two years, in particular, had been in charge of Brother Valett, has fallen off since his departure, and at present the school enrolls only nineteen boys. Upon the desire of some natives, a Telugu school has been begun in a village near Rajahmundry,^ About twelve boys attend. The teacher is one of our converts. His pay is Rs. 5 per month. At present the monthly expense of the English school is Rs. 33 (about 15 dollars). Rs. 4 are paid for a peon and ten annas for a sweeper-woman. The regular monthly subscription of English residents toward the school fund amounts to Rs. 47. Rs. 1000 have accumulated as a school fund, and have been invested. The interest now amounts to Rs. 150. I have a balance in hand, not yet deposited, of Rs. 395, so that the total school fund amounts to Rs. 1545. There are also two other small sums in my hand, namely, Rs. 50, given to sink a well in the mission compound, and Rs. 53, given to purchase tents. To the mission is also entrusted a poor fund, the monthly contributions amounting to between Rs. 30 and 40, which the missionaries may dis- tribute according to their best judgment. More than thirty
^ Probably Muramunda.
qS AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDIA poor people receive alms daily and, at the same time, hear the preaching of the Word. Native Christian helpers we have, at the present time, none. Last year we were obliged to discharge our catechist for neglect of duty. The work at the station has never been interrupted. If one of the mis- sionaries was out in the district, the other remained at the station. Though Brother Valett was obliged to leave the station during the hot season, I was permitted by our good Lord to remain and attend to the duties here every hot season since my arrival in this country. ... I am at present alone at this station but hope that He in whose work we are engaged will soon by your instrumentality send others to help destroy the works of the devil and preach the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which alone sinners can obtain that which is needed to stand before God and obtain peace, joy and life eternal."
Heise's wish for a co-laborer was soon gratified. He was joined, early in 1852, by the Rev. W. J. Cutter and his wife, Margaret, for while Snyder remained in Guntur, Cutter pro- ceeded at once to Rahjahmundry, where he took charge of the Anglo-vernacular school; and Mrs. Cutter established the first girls' school. Cutter worked so zealously that by the end of the year five schools were established with a total enrollment of 175 pupils; and a Mohammedan department was added to the English school, only, however, to be almost im- mediately abandoned.
During this period of comparatively rapid development, Heyer, still the missionary of the Permsylvania Ministerium, was doing splendid work in the Palnad. To the 39 converts of his first years' work he added 125 before the close of 1850, and soon thereafter, in February, 1851, realizing that the growth of the mission depended upon the training and employment of efficient native Christian helpers, he reopened the boys' boarding school at Gurjal with 12 pupils. The First English Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh, to whose Sunday school he had written about this school, sent $50 for the education of two of the boarding boys, stipulating that the beneficiaries were to bear the names of Martin Luther and WilKam Passa-
THE FIELD OF THE FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY 99 vant. Similar conditions, though odd enough, itmust be admitted, were not infrequently attached to gifts for the sup- port of boys or girls in mission schools. Heyer simply added the desired names to the baptismal names of his pupils, calling one John Martin Luther and the other William Barnabas Passavant.
Another significant thing that Heyer did, in 1851, was to translate Luther's Small Catechism into Telugu, of which a small edition was printed in Madras. Hastening to Guntur to be with the dying Gunn during the last days of his life on earth, he returned to Gurjal immediately after the funeral.
Three girls were admitted to the boarding school in the fall of 1 85 1, for whose support Miss Harriet Weyman of Pittsburgh contributed $50 annually for a number of years. At the opening of the new school-year in January, 1852, the boarding school enrolled 21 pupils. Heyer conducted the school in his little house in Gurjal. It is difficult to under- stand how, with the meagre accommodations, it was possible for him to do so.
His work in the Palnad district ended in February, 1853. In four years he had baptized no less than 243 persons,' nearly all of them being of the weaver and farmer castes; 35 adults were counted as communicants. In Gurjal, Polepalli, Vel- durti and Macherla small schoolhouses built of stone at an average cost of $40 each had been erected. The lots were enclosed by stone walls and used in part as Christian ceme- teries. In eight other villages schools had been more or less regularly conducted, all of which were attended by Christian children only, "the children of heathen parents not being excluded but excluding themselves." All of the seven school teachers employed were Christian converts, as were also the catechist and the two colporteurs of the district. At the suggestion of the Executive Committee of The For-
Recorded as follows: Polepalli, February 12, 1849, 22 persons; May 27, 1849, 11; Veldurti, September 23d, 4; Gurjal, October 5th, 2; Polepalli, December 15, 1850, 29; Kolacotta, December isth, 22; Veldurti, December 17th, 44; Macherla, December 19th, 30; Polepalli, April 13, 1851, i; Gurjal, April 27th, 4; Veldurti, February 20, 1852, i; Polepalli, February 22d, 8; Gurjal, June 27th, 18; Adigopula, August 29th, 19; Macherla, September 26th, 13; Gurjal, December 28tb, 6; Polepalli, January 15, 1853, 9.
lOO AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDIA eign Missionary Society the missionaries, five in number, met and organized on January 31, 1853, in Guntur, the first "Lutheran Synod in India" for mutual counsel and encouragement. Heyer was elected president and Snyder secretary. The synod decided that Heyer and Groenning should exchange stations. Heyer, therefore, remained in Guntur and Groen- ning, on February 14th, moved to Gurjal.
Mrs. Gunn had not left India after the death of her husband but had remained in Guntur, at the call of the Execu- tive Committee, to retain charge of the girls' school at one- half the salary paid her deceased husband, thus becoming the first regularly called and salaried woman missionary of the American Evangelical Lutheran Mission in India. Her school enrolled forty girls to whom she imparted the elements of knowledge, the truths of Christianity and some proficiency in the art of sewing. She managed the school for a little more than a year and then returned to the United States, Mrs. Groenning succeeding her. After Mrs. Groenning left with her husband for the Palnad district, Mrs. Snyder took charge and was the manager of the school for a year and a half, until she died at Guntur, September 3, 1854.
Ten years had now elapsed since Heyer had established the mission in Guntur, and he was again in charge of that station; but the progress had been so slow that only fifteen adult communicants belonged to the congregation. One hundred and fifty pupils were enrolled in six schools, and eight teachers, all Christians, were employed.^ The mission property in Guntur consisted of the house which Gunn had built, valued at $650, another missionary's bungalow, pur- chased for $760, a chapel costing $200, and two schoolhouses, each worth about $25.
Heyer had brought four of the boys from his Gurjal board- ing school to Guntur, and with these, together with three from Guntur, he began the first regular boarding school for boys in Guntur. ' Stephen had charge of the Telugu school in the mission house. Aaron was his assistant. Peter taught the school at Nevalikanner, Ezra at Kotlamur, Simeon at Moparti. iiebecca, the wife of Stephen, and Walter were employed in the girls' school.
THE FIELD OF THE FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY lOI Although Mr. Stokes no longer resided in Guntur, having been appointed Collector at Madras, he continued to con- tribute regularly to the mission, offering, in 1853, to give Rs. 1000 toward the erection of two suitable bungalows for missionaries in the Palnad district, one to be located at Polepalli, and each to cost approximately Rs. 1500, provided a second missionary were stationed in the dis- trict. His condition could not be met and his offer was withdrawn. On January i, 1854, all of the missionaries met in Rajahmundry to attend the second meeting of the ''Synod," which was opened with a service and sermon in Telugu by Rev. C. W. Groenning, most appropriately based on John 6:27. The five foreign missionaries and fourteen native Christians partook of the holy communion. It is more than likely, although not expressly recorded, that some of these natives Christians had accompanied the missionaries from Guntur and the Palnad, for there were not yet so many adult communicants connected with the Rajahmundry congregation. In the afternoon another Telugu service was held, Rev. C. F. Heyer preaching the sermon. The business session began the next morning and continued until Thursday morning. Groenning was elected president and Cutter secretary. In his report Heyer recommended that steps be taken to unite all Lutheran missionaries in India in one general synod, a proposal which is still, after more than fifty years, a consummation devoutly to be wished. It is interesting to note that the following liturgy was adopted as the one to be used everywhere in the mission: i. Hymn. 2. Prayer, kneeling. 3. Scripture lesson. 4. Hymn. 5. Sermon. 6. Hymn. 7. Prayer, standing. 8. Benediction. Three young native Christians were recommended for training as catechists and future pastors, namely: Chinsa Ramurdu of Rajahmundry, aged twenty-two; WilHam Barnabas Passavant of the Palnad, aged sixteen; and Joseph of Guntur, aged fourteen.
The following table of statistics was prepared and sent to The Foreign Missionary Society. It gives a bird's-eye view of the whole mission at the close of the year 1853 •
I02 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDIA
Boarding Other Baptisms^ Schools Schools
.2 -s
nJ 5 ,^ 'JJ "^
>-> S 3 -S S ° 3 o -a IH o "S O U < U hJ c)^
Guntur i i 35 15 9 i i 6 6 140 10 Rajahmundry i 2 13 104008 225 Palnad i 10 36 i 2 4 i 15 6 70 6
Totals 3 13 84 17 II 9 2 21 20 435 25
Heyer became the Rajahmundry missionary at the begin- ning of the year 1855. He was joined by Snyder in February, Cutter going to Guntur to assist Groenning with the work there and in the Palnad, which was left without a resident missionary. Heise left on furlough April i, 1855, on account of protracted illness after a trip of three weeks in a steamboat, one hundred and forty miles up the Godavery River, as the guest of Col. Cotton.
The minutes of the third annual meeting of the First Lutheran Synod in India, held in Guntur, February 3, 1855, refer to a terrible epidemic in the Palnad during the hot season of 1854, and to the death of 10 Christians from this dreadful disease. Other deaths recorded were those of Emily, infant daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Snyder, in May; Walter Gunn, infant son of Rev. and Mrs. Cutter, in June; and Mrs. Snyder in September. The minutes also contain a resolution, recommending an allowance of $5 a month for each child of a missionary until it had reached the age of twelve years, and a fixed allowance to each missionary for furniture. The appointment of a treasurer in India was recommended. It had been the practice of the Executive Committee up to this time to send its remittances through the Rev. Mr. Winslow of Madras, the agent of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions.
The growth of the Mission during the year 1854 may be
^ The whole number of baptisms in Guntur from the beginning to July 1854, was 104.
CUTTTXG A r.l^XCII OF BANANAS
A r.AXAAX TRKI-:
Tlie flfiiliaiit under tliis tree gives a good idea of tile size of the tree with its nunierous aerial roots.
THE FIELD OF THE FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY IO3 noted by comparing the preceding table of statistics with the following one:
Baptisms Schoolsfor Pupils Teachers
s ^ J -3 5 § c
i3 I « Ji ^ J> OU<U^mC pqO Sfi^ Guntur i 32 o 7 2 6 i 70 20 6 i Rajahmundry 2 14 7 3 i 81 176 27 81 Palnad 10 40 2 612 60 55 7 60
Totals 13 86 9 16 15 20 2 301 54 20 2
The receipts in India for the year, exclusive of the mis- sionaries' salaries, were Rs. 1031; the expenditures, Rs. 1116; and the estimated expenses for the coming year were Rs. 2100. The salaries of the missionaries amounted to $3200, the average for each missionary being $650 a year.
While the congregation in Guntur was larger than the one in Rajahmundry, the educational work in the latter place was more promising than in the former. Heyer was the manager of the Anglo-vernacular school which enrolled 68 pupils in 1855, and Snyder was the manager of the Telugu schools, one of which was a girls' school in charge of Susanna Lavel, a con- vert, the wife of Chinsa Ramurdu, a Brahmin. Unfortunately, this first native Christian female teacher died in September, 1855. Heyer also established a boys' boarding school for the training of native workers, beginning with three boys who had followed him from Guntur, William Barnabas Passavant, John Martin Luther and Enoch, who, as the beneficiaries of the Sunday school of the First Lutheran Church of Pitts- burgh, remained under his personal care and supervision, and two boys from Rajahmundry, Jacob and Peeru.
Snyder remained in Rajahmundry only a short time. A physical collapse, subsequent to his heroic but unsuccessful effort to save the life of William Barnabas Passavant, who was drowned in a tank in Rajahmundry, forced him to leave India, March 24, 1856. About two months earlier Cutter with his wife and children had left Guntur on account of
I04 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDIA Mrs. Cutter's serious nervous depression. They reached New York May 30, 1856, and Snyder landed there about two months later. Only two missionaries remained in India, Heyer at Rajahmundry and Groenning at Guntur.
A loss as serious as that of any missionary was the departure of Mr. and Mrs. Stokes for England in 1856. Writing from Denver, Norfolk, England, under date of August 31, 1856, Mr. Stokes assured the Executive Com- mittee of The Foreign Mission Society of his continued interest in its Telugu Mission, encouraged it to send more missionaries and money, and relieved it of every financial in- debtedness to him. The committee frequently corresponded with him in England, consulted him about the Mission and received both advice and contributions; but his interest was gradually absorbed by the Church Missionary Society, of which he became an ardent supporter. He died in England in 1889.
If we seek for the causes of the comparatively slow prog- ress of the Telugu Mission during the first decade, we find them, first of all, in the small force of foreign missionaries and the meagre financial support of the Church in America. Had not the English residents in Guntur, led by Collector Stokes, and in Rajahmundry, by Colonel Cotton, generously supported the missionaries, especially in the educational work, the results would, indeed, have been insignificant. To what extent the English residents in Guntur aided the mis- sionaries there and in the Palnad has already been told. What part the English residents in Rajahmundry took in the mission work may be observed from the fact that of Rs. 1300 required in 1854 for the work at that station, Rs. 1000 were contributed by Colonel Cotton and others, leaving a balance of only Rs. 300 (about $125) to be provided from America. Nor was that an exceptional year. Every year the contri- butions were proportionately the same. It is really surpris- ing how Httle, apart from the salaries of the missionaries. The Foreign Missionary Society spent on the Rajahmundry work.
Besides their contributions in money, the English resi- dents sought to aid the missionaries by demanding of their
THE FIELD OF THE FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY 105 servants regular attendance at the Telugu services conducted by the missionaries; but the minds and hearts of such attend- ants did not prove to be good ground. In 1853 the con- straint was removed from the native servants in Rajahmundry and, probably also, in Guntur, and though the attendance at the Telugu services was decreased, those who attended came voluntarily, and the number of converts increased more rapidly thereafter.
Another cause for the slow increase of the number of converts was the practical confinement of evangelistic work to the towns of Guntur and Rajahmundry. In the Palnad, where most converts were made, the missionary toured the district; but the Guntur and Rajahmundry missionaries, obliged to look after their school work, rarely went out into the villages of the surrounding districts to preach. More- over, there were no native helpers to prepare the way for the foreign missionary or to follow up his work when he did preach in the district; and without competent native assist- ance district work is practically fruitless. At first the mis- sionaries did a good deal of preaching in the bazaars and streets of Guntur and Rajahmundry, speaking to any crowd which might be attracted and gathered about them; but they gradually discontinued this practice as unsatisfactory and relied more upon the educational work as an evangelizing agency, inasmuch as the children of Hindu, as well as of Chris- tian parentage, attending the schools, received instruction in Bible truths and facts.
Before the missionaries could hope for any extensive success, it was necessary for them to raise up, train and employ a numerous band of competent native Christian helpers —teachers, evangelists and catechists—to work with the mis- sionary and, in his absence, under his general oversight and supervision. Heyer, as we have noticed, was the founder of the boarding schools for Christian boys, which are training- schools for native workers, in the Palnad, in Guntur and in Rajahmundry; but many years were to elapse before these schools furnished native helpers in any considerable number and of any competent abihty. The first teachers employed
Io6 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDIA by Heyer and Gurm were Hindus, the missionaries supplementing the instruction by devoting several hours daily to the teaching of Christian truth. The Christian teachers who were engaged at first, were recent converts, raw material, uneducated men, untrained workers, even though sincere and faithful Christians. Little could be expected of them, and they accomplished little.
Nevertheless, for the time and energy expended, the American Evangelical Lutheran Mission in the Telugu country showed as good results as any other mission in South India during the first decade of its history.