Part II, Chapter IV — Struggling for Existence (1871-74)
Heyer remained at Rajahmimdry only one year and two months to reorganize the Mission, and then he left it in charge of two missionaries, both of whom were young, inexperienced, unfamihar with the vernacular and unaccustomed to the climate. Sickness overtook them; once Poulsen's life hung in the balance. The Brahmins opposed them, not, indeed, with physical violence but with subtle arguments and with the influence of their caste pre-eminence and religious in- tolerance. The Baptist missionaries in adjacent districts molested them by enticing away their native helpers and proselyting their converts. The Church at home failed to furnish them with sufficient funds to improve the opportuni- ties which presented themselves for the extension of the Mission. For seven years they labored patiently and hopefully side by side, waiting for other missionaries to come over and help them, but waiting in vain ; and their effort was little more than a struggle for the existence of the Mission. Schmidt and Poulsen lived in the old mission house at Rajahmundry with such native servants as were required to keep house. Schmidt made himself reponsible for the district mission work, and Poulsen took charge of the educational work. Early in 187 1 a native Christian teacher was employed at Jagganathpuram. His name was Jeremiah. He had scarcely begun his work in the village, when the Brahmins incited a mob to burn down the schoolhouse and drive the teacher from the village. Schmidt hastened to the scene of the disturbance and, with the aid of government officials, restored order. Thereafter Jeremiah was allowed to live and labor without molestation at Jagganathpuram. After the hot season Schmidt revisited the place and went as far as Narsa-
STRUGGLING FOR EXISTENCE (1871-74) 163 pur, where he baptized 13 persons, most of whom were adults. On July ist, at Metta, after having baptized 2 adults, Schmidt performed his first marriage ceremony in the Mission. Several weeks afterward he took possession of a site at Peddahem, secured from the rajah through the efforts of Mr. Gribble, the new assistant collector, and work was at once begun at this new point.
In July, 187 1, after a visit to Dowlaishwaram, Jegurupad and Muramunda,^ Poulsen became seriously ill with bilious fever, which lasted for weeks. Captain Taylor and Schmidt nursed him back to health. While convalescing he spent a few weeks at Samulkot in the mission house which Long had built, but which had long remained unoccupied. Poulsen desired to be located there permanently, but the Committee and the General Council, in 187 1, withheld their permission, and the missionaries continued to live together at Rajahmundry. In its report to the General Council in 187 1, at Rochester, N. Y., the executive committee of the Ministerium of Penn- sylvania incorporated the following statistics:
Pupils in Town or Village. Teacher. Christians. School. Rajahmundry William Amurtayya 30 40 Muramunda Barnabas 40 20 Jegurupad Benjamin 25 16 Metta, ^ Peddahem, > Jacob 50 20 Gowripatnam J Velpur Nathaniel 16 14 Narsapur Alfred ) Palakol, 1 T •!-} Jagganathpuram i Jeremiah
f Peravaram Lolla 20
Totals 7 241 138
North and northwest of Rajahmundry, at a distance of fifty miles and upward, lies the country of the Kois and Reddis, tribes that differ racially and linguistically from the Telugus, having less civilization and no caste system. They are probably the remnants of aboriginal tribes whom the con-
^ Here he baptized an infant, his first baptism in the Mission.
quering Telugus in their day drove from the lowlands into the forest-clad and fever-infested hills. No missionary had ever visited them, and Schmidt, believing that he ought to begin work among them, started on a journey northward from Rajahmundry on January 17, 1872, accompanied by Paulus and Jeremiah. They took along such medicines as were deemed necessary for protection against the dreaded mountain fever, and a number of firearms and ammunition for the tigers and other wild animals, which were reported to be numerous in the forests. A tent and provisions were sent on ahead in a bullock cart accompahied by coolie bearers. Schmidt rode a horse. Sixteen miles were covered on the first day. From Purushottapatnam the journey was con- tinued through Ungalur and Devipatnam to Yaimigalogudem, the first Kois village visited. When the people of this village heard for the first time the Gospel preached to them in Telugu, which they readily understood, they exclaimed: "Manchi marta! Entha prema!" (Lovely words! Wonderful love!). From Mantur the missionary and his helpers proceeded by boat up the Godavery to Katchalur, a Reddi village. The region was a wild one, and for fear of prowling tigers and other savage beasts a fire was kept burning all night. The chief industry of the natives was found to be the cutting and preparation of bamboo wood. Their staple food was cholam, a kind of millet, eaten instead of rice which does not thrive on the hills. In order to reach some of the inland villages a path had to be hewn with an ax through the dense jungle. The natives had never seen a white man; and once, on approaching a village, Schmidt found it deserted and empty, the villagers having fled for fear of the paleface. They hid in the sur- rounding jungle, armed with their primitive weapons, bows, arrows and spears, ready to fight for their lives. Jeremiah shouted to them and assured them that the white man had come on a mission of peace, whereupon they returned to the village and listened to what the missionary had to say to them. *Tt was a cause of joy to us to see with what avidity they received the Gospel," wrote Schmidt. "After their first timidity was overcome, we found open ears. They said, *We
STRUGGLING FOR EXISTENCE (1871-74) 165 live like wild beasts, separated from men. No one has cared for us or taught us the truth ; but now we will no longer pray to stones, but to the Living God.' Some said, 'We are too ignorant to be able to believe in Jesus.' Few, almost none of them, can read or write, and we could not, therefore, provide for their instruction through books left behind." On February loth, at Kottapilli, the tour ended, and on the i6th the mis- sionary was back in Rajahmundry. Great interest was shown by the Telugu converts when the experiences of this tour among the Kois and Reddis were related, and four teachers offered themselves and were sent to follow up the work of the missionary. All contracted jungle fever. One died, another lost his reason, and the other two refused to remain and continue the work.
In June, 1872, a small church bell or gong, sent from Denmark by Schmidt's brothers, sisters and friends, arrived at Rajahmundry and was placed on the roof of the mission- house. Some time during the same month, James and William, having been graduated from the Boys' Boarding School, began to read in the Government High School at Rajahmundry, their support being continued by patrons in America.
The following letter, written by Father Heyer at Somerset, Pa., to his friend, the Rev. P. Isenschmidt of Wilmington, Del., indicates how the system of supporting scholarships in India originated in the General Council: ''Dear Brother in Christ: Gladly will I answer the questions you propose. The Christian education of the children connected with the Mission is certainly of the greatest importance. In this respect more should be done than has hitherto been done. Every Sunday school of our larger congregations might bind itself to care for one particular child. There is no lack of children. The board and clothing of a child would cost about $18 or $20 yearly. The annual expense of a student would amount to about $30 or $35. In the mission school at Rajahmundry there are three boys who ought to be prepared for the holy ministry. Their names are James, Cor- nelius and William. The first named is the most talented and is about fifteen or sixteen years of age. The second is a son
1 66 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL of the catechist Joseph. The third is a son of Ruth who has hitherto watched faithfully over her children in order to bring them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord."^ A new missionary's bungalow was built at Rajahmundry under Schmidt's supervision in 1872, on a lot opposite the mission house. Poulsen took his bride to this new house. He had betrothed himself to Henrietta Andersen in Denmark before leaving for India, but the executive committee in America had felt itself financially unable to send out a married missionary at the time, and she remained in Denmark. On October 11, 1872, however, she was informed through the Rev. C. W. Groenning that the committee was prepared to send her to India. She started at once, leaving Copenhagen on November 2 2d. From Trieste she took ship on December ist for Bombay, being the only woman passenger on board. In a month Bombay was reached. The overland journey to Madras lasted two days and two nights. Poulsen met her there, and they were married by the Rev. C. F. Kremmer, a Leipsic missionary, on January 10, 1873. Three days later they started for Rajahmundry, arriving on the 17th. Several weeks were spent in the bungalow at Samulkot, and then they accompanied Schmidt on a trip up the Godavery River. For this trip Captain Taylor loaned them his house-boat. Paulus and Jeremiah again went with the missionaries. "We went," wrote Schmidt, "partly to show those poor people, the Kois and Reddis, that we had not forgotten them, and partly to see a Httle more of the field." They visited the Nizam's tributary kingdom, going as far as the Saveri, a branch of the Godavery. 'Tt was very trying to mark their eagerness to be taught," Schmidt reported, "and yet to be unable to promise them the opportunity."
The year 1873 witnessed an important conference of mis- sionaries laboring among the Telugus, convened at Rajahmundry, to undertake the revision of the Telugu translation of the Bible. Schmidt, who was a member of the Revision ^ William was assigned to the Rev. Mr. Isenschmidt's congregation in Wilmington, Del., for support, and ever since that congregation has continued to contribute $35 a year for the support of a boy's scholarship in India.
STRUGGLING FOR EXISTENCE (1871-74) 167 Committee, was able to assist the Committee by reason of his familiarity with the German and Danish translations.'
The house which the missionaries occupied was the one Valett had built at the time of his marriage. It was in the form of a rectangle and had, as was then customary, a flat roof. In 1873, Schmidt altered it, adding a light second story and putting on a shingle roof, the first of its kind in South India. The work cost over $500. It is interesting to note that in connection with this building, Schmidt inaugurated the scheme ef industrial mission work, which he afterward tried to elaborate. "At my building," he wrote, "I engaged as many of our Christians as possible, even from the villages. Though it gave me much more trouble to teach them and, perhaps, was hardly as cheap as I could have gotten heathen laborers, nevertheless I had the satisfaction of seeing that they profited by it, and, perhaps, it was also to their spiritual gain, for they had an opportunity to come to our daily prayers and Scripture readings. . . . The roof is of shingles of teak wood, an unseen thing in this country. The first 2000 shingles I had to put on with my own hands before my workmen understood the work. Had I not got so much experience in building Brother Poulsen's house last year, I would not have been able to succeed with my house, where I met with not a few engineer- ing difficulties. Long ago I found in the house of a native merchant a circular saw which I bought as old steel. I have now also succeeded in making a bench for it, and cut the shingles with it. It is turned by coolies, and the whole machine ^ This Revision Committee consisted of four ordained missionaries, two of whom were Americans. Two native pastors were added to the Committee. They worked for a month at Rajahmundry. Besides the old Telugu versions they used the Hebrew, Septuagint, Vulgate, Sanscrit, Tamil, Canarese, Mah- ratti, Hindustani, English, German and Danish. The Telugu Missions interested in this revision and their relative strength at that time are given in the following table:
Adherents. 1861. 1871.
Mission. Missionaries.
1. American Baptist, Nellore 5
2. Hermannsburg Lutheran, Naydupet 8
3. General Synod Lutheran, Guntur 3
4. General Council Lutheran, Rajahmundry 2
5. Church Missionary Society, Ellore 1.5
6. London Missionary Society 5
7. Plymouth Baptist, Narsapur 4
1 68 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL cost me hardly more than $io. All the new wood I have used for the building is teak wood. This is generally very expensive, but by sitting and talking with the wood merchants near the river for half a day at a time I managed to get it cheap. You would have been amused to have seen how many people my building attracted, but it must naturally be so in a country where every one will do only what and as his fathers did."
One of the twenty-two converts of the year 1873 was a Sudra mendicant who, after living for two months among the Christians at Rajahmundry, disappeared. A Brahmin who attended the mission school, broke his sacred thread and ate with the Christians ; but he refused to be baptized for fear of being disinherited. At Samulkot Poulsen prepared a number of inquirers for holy baptism, but when the hour of decision came they held back. The missionaries reported that "no extraordinary spiritual movements had happened in the field," but rejoiced that among the Christians "the work of the Holy Ghost was going on with signs of spiritual hfe."
On September 16, 1873, Schmidt started for Madras, where he was to meet his fianced who was coming from Denmark. On the way he visited other missions in order to study their methods. October 3d he reached Guntur, where he was entertained by Missionaries Uhl, Unangst and Harpster, and where, on October 5th, he preached the sermon at the ordination of Pastor Cully who had been the catechist in the Palnad district. He spent about a month with the Hermannsburg missionaries, of whom there were ten.^ On reaching Madras he learned that his fiancee had been detained in Europe about a month, and he, therefore, spent the inter- vening time farther south, visiting a number of missions. On Christmas Day, 1873, Miss Giovanni Bleshoy landed at Bombay, where Missionary Schmidt was waiting for her to lead her to the altar as his wife. They were married at Madras by the Rev. C. F. Kremmer on January i, 1874. It was a double wedding, the other bridegroom being the
* He described their field as being about forty miles east and west and fifty miles north and south, with missionaries stationed at Gudur (Boettcher, Wahl, Kiehne), Venkatagiri (Theo. Peterson), Kalastri (Woerrlein), Naydupet (Mylius), Sulurpet (Scriba). The baptized membership was 260.
STRUGGLING FOR EXISTENCE (1871-74) 169 Rev. Mr. Pedersen of the Danish Mission. After the wedding the newly married pair received the Lord's Supper. The Rev. and Mrs. Schmidt reached Rajahmundry on January 17th.
While Schmidt was away Poulsen and his wife were seriously ill with fever. "My poor wife," wrote Poulsen, "in spite of her great distress and anxiety, was not only a nurse for my body but also for my soul. How glad I was when she now and then repeated a word of love from our dear Saviour's lips. The English people were very kind to her and to me. To Henry ^ we owe our greatest thanks. After working all day he would insist on coming to me every night; and what he did, he did with love."
The year 1874^ began in an atmosphere of gladness and hope. Both of the missionaries had loving and faithful helpmeets at their sides, who shared with them the discouragements as well as the joys of the work. In the home of the Poulsens a happy event occurred on February 21st, when a daughter was born, who was baptized by her father three days afterward and given the name—Agnes Martha Henrietta.
Three teachers were sent to the hill country in January, 1874, two of whom returned to Rajahmundry within a month, sick with hill fever. The third, Prakasem,^ located at Kondamodalu, near the gorge of the Godavery, was visited by Schmidt in March; but immediately thereafter he also was obhged to leave on account of illness. Schmidt made an effort to secure a number of boys from the hill country to be educated in Rajahmundry, but he met with the opposition of their parents who lamented "as though they were asked to send their sons to another world." On his way home he paid a visit to Peddahem, where at a service in the new schoolhouse he administered the Lord's Supper to fifteen persons. So greatly were the villagers interested in the visit of the mis- ^ Jeriprolu Henry was a native convert whom Rev. C. W. Groenning had brought with him from Guntur to Rajahmundry. He was the father of a large family of which every member has been in the employ of the Mission. His wife was Ruth, already mentioned; one of his sons, William, is a native Chris- tian pastor in the Mission to-day.
' During 1873 nine children and thirteen adults were baptized by the mis- sionaries.
' This man, Namabattula Prakasem, is still in the service of the mission.
170 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL sionary that the schoolhouse was surrounded all day long by them, even the headman of the village attending the morning service and sitting inside the building among the outcast Christians.
Early in 1874 the Canadian Baptist (Ontario and Quebec) Missionary Society established its first station in the Telugu country at Coconada on the coast, eight miles from Samulkot. The Rev. Mr. McLaurin was their first missionary. He offered to buy the mission house at Samulkot, but his offer was declined. He refused to agree to any policy of mission comity and openly worked against our missionaries. "I asked him," Schmidt reported, "whether we could and should agree that neither would interfere with the other's work, but he did not like to promise to take none of our Christians."
As indicated in a report of a mission conference of native Christian teachers in July, 1874, the missionaries instructed their helpers in Bible history, church history, the catechism, and in the public reading of the Sacred Scriptures with running comments. An explanation of Luther's Small Cate- chism, prepared and published by the Hermannsburg mis- sionaries, was introduced at this time.
By the close of the year the two hundredth person was baptized, counting all who had received the sacrament since the reorganization under Heyer five years before. Among the converts of 1874 were two caste women, one of whom had been an opium-eater for thirty years. Another convert, an old man living at Korukonda, gave one of his houses in that village to the Mission for school purposes, and a teacher was sent there; but after repeated attacks of fever he returned to Rajahmundry. Poulsen, however, regularly visited the village to preach the Gospel at the times of the great festivals there. When the wife of the Korukonda convert became sick, shortly after his conversion, the villagers tried his faith by asking him why it was that sickness should enter his home and that the Christian teacher should have been obliged to leave on ac- count of fever, if the God in whom they believed really forgave sins and healed iniquities? Despite their taunts the convert remained faithful to Christ. Subsequently, at a heathen
STRUGGLING FOR EXISTENCE ( 1 87 1- 74) 171 festival, Poulsen found the Baptist missionary from Coconada and three of his native helpers in the village preaching and distributing tracts. One of the Baptist helpers in a conversa- tion with the Korukonda convert^ told him that he was not a true Christian, because he had not been properly baptized. Deeply troubled, he went to Missionary Poulsen for instruc- tion concerning this matter. "In all the villages where we have Christians," Poulsen complained, "the Baptist agents try to proselyte, and the Baptist missionary contemptuously calls us and other Protestants 'sprinklers.' "
In the congregations and synods of the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America foreign mission interest and effort grew very slowly during the first five years of the history of its Telugu Mission in India.
The Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania Ministe- rium, which had been appointed by the General Council to act as its committee on foreign missions, experienced con- siderable difficulty in providing sufficient money to finance the India Mission.- Regarding the income it reported, in ^This man was subsequently bitten by a snake of a peculiarly virulent poison, which caused him to lose joint after joint of fingers and toes, until death brought relief. Of course this misfortune was attributed to the power of the angry gods. This incident hindered the growth of the Mission for many years in that locality.
^The following is a list of the expenditures during the first fourteen months: C. F. Heyer, travelling expenses and outfit $562 C. F. Heyer, salary, October 23, 1869 to October 23, 1870 500 C. F. J. Becker, travelling expenses 425 C. F. J. Becker, salary, February to May 125 H. C. Schmidt, travelling expenses 400 H. C. Schmidt, salary, one quarter 125 I. K. Poulsen, travelling expenses 450 Salary of two catechists, 11 months, at $7.50 each 165 Repairs and taxes 59 Repairs contracted for 200
" $3011
Total
With regard to the money due the Church Missionary Society, which had paid the catechists' salaries before the transfer of the Mission to the General Council, the Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania Ministerium passed the following resolution, April 5, 1870: "Resolved, That the Secretary be instructed to apply to the General Synod for their proportion of the money due the Church Missionary Society, and the treasurer be authorized to pay our part, and that, if the General Synod refuses, to pay the whole." It appears that the whole indebtedness amounted to $178, in gold, which the Executive Committee eventually paid in full.
.
1870, to the General Council as follows: "Your committee has with great difficulty secured the money to meet the ex- penses. From most of the synods not a cent has been received. The treasurer of the General Council, Mr. C. F. Norton, ad- vanced $896.69, which has not yet been repaid in full. The resolution of the General Council last year, 'that the General Council pledges itself vigorously and faithfully to support the foreign mission work,' greatly encouraged your committee at the beginning of the year; but they greatly regret that their hopes and expectations have been realized to so small an extent." Nevertheless the committee managed to make ends meet.
During the year 1870-71 the income rose from $2480.49 to $3065 and the expenditures from $2065.74 to $2861.22. The New York Ministerium again contributed liberally during this year. The next year the contributions amounted to $4352.11, the expenditures to only $2276.29, leaving a bal- ance of $2279.50. The account from year to year continued to show a balance, due, as one can readily see, not so much to a steady increase of income as to the enforcement of economy in the mission work.
The expenditures in India^ were greater than the amount of the remittances from America. They were met, however, by contributions of friendly English residents in Rajahmundry,
1 The following is an exhibit of all expenditures in India:
1872. 1873. 1874. Rs. As. Ps. Rs. As. Ps. Rs. As. Ps. Salaries of missionaries 2574 . . .
4000 . . . . 4244
Salaries of catechists 500 15 6 500 .. .. 480 Travelling expenses 147 67 125 99 Hill allowance 20 Support of pupils by Sunday
schools 184 .... 340 .... 420 Rebuilding Poulsen's house 1597 3 2 Dr. Heyer's class 10 Easter presents to helpers 68 Repairs to mission-house 928 Taxes, postage, etc 3° .... 12 6 6 Repairs, taxes, building . • .... 764 7 8 Deficit 199 . • • • 736 .... 459 6 9
Totals 5283 9 o 6554 6505 14 8
During these years the value of a rupee was estimated to be 50 cents.
STRUGGLING FOR EXISTENCE (1871-74) 1 73 by the rental of the bungalow at Samulkot, and by special efforts on the part of Schmidt who actually resorted to the sale of photographs and the repair of watches, sewing machines and other mechanical devices in order not to create a mission indebtedness.
The salaries of the missionaries were increased after their marriage, each receiving Rs. 2000 or $1000 a year. The salaries of the catechists amounted to Rs. 500, each receiving Rs. 250 or $125 a year. A third item of expenditure which bulked large was for building and repairs.
The Pennsylvania Ministeriam's Executive Committee on Missions and Education continued to direct the affairs of the Mission in India until the year 1876. This committee con- sisted of the four officers of the synod, the president of the synod being ex-officio the chairman of the committee, the five presidents of conferences and ten additional members, five ministers and five laymen, elected annually. The treasurer of the General Council was the treasurer of the foreign mis- sion funds.
^
1 Those, therefore, to whom the care and control of the Telugu Mission were entrusted during this period were the Rev. C. W. Schaeffer, D. D., chairman from 1869 to 1873; the Rev. E. Greenwald, D. D., chairman from 1873 to 1876; the Rev. B. M. Schmucker, D. D., English secretary from 1869 to 1875; the Rev. J. Fry, D. D., English secretary in 1876; the Rev. J. J. Kuendig, German secretary from 1869 to 1873; the Rev. S. K. Brobst, German secretary from 1873 to 1876. Although the secretaries of the synod were members of the committee, the committee annually elected its own English and German secretaries. Others who served for a longer or shorter period on this committee were the Revs. B. W. Schmauk, F. Waltz, J. W. Hassler, H. Grahn, F. J. F. Schantz, G. F. Spieker and Mr. A. T. Geissenhainer, all by virtue of their offices in the synod. The laymen most prominently connected with the work of the committee were Messrs. H. H. Muehlenberg, M. D., H. Trexler, F. Lauer, A. W. Potteiger, H. L. Mattes and John EndJich.