Part II, Chapter XIV — The Jubilee Year (1895)
The year of the Jubilee of the foreign mission work of the General Council in India, 1895, came and went without any special celebration in America; but in India a three days' celebration was held in November at Rajahmundry, at which quite a number of missionaries from other Lutheran Missions in India were present.^ The Guntur and Breklum Missions were well represented. Among those who dehvered addresses were the Provost of the Leipsic Mission, the Rev. K. Pamperrien, and the Rev. Harless of the Breklum Mission.^ At its meeting in February, 1895, the Board of Foreign Missions resolved to "instruct the Mission Council in India to take steps to provide a Seminary building, look up a proper site and send plans, with a view of laying the corner-stone this Jubilee Year." The condition of the school really demanded new and more adequate buildings. Kuder wrote in 1895: "When I came here four years ago the number of pupils I found in the Seminary was between 125 and 150. It was then already generally admitted that the building was inconvenient, too small and too poorly equipped. Two years ago it became necessary to overhaul an old room adjoining the church building. Last year it was again necessary to repair another room, and when this was not found sufficient, a cheap shed, the walls of which are bamboo mats and the roof of palmyra leaves, was rushed up. This year a similar but larger shed will have to be erected. The school now contains 265 children and they are still coming."
1 At the same time the twenty-fifth anniversary of the arrival of Schmidt at Rajahmundry was celebrated. * In the following spring the Rev. Mr. Harless, on his way back from Madras, whither he had gone to send his wife and children home to Germany, was taken seriously ill at the railway station in Rajahmundry and was removed to the home of Rev. E. Pohl, where he died of fever on March 26, 1896.
3o8 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL A tract of land containing thirty acres just outside of Rajahmundry, presented to the Mission by Dr. H. C. Schmidt, was selected as the site of the new buildings. Plans were submitted to the Board and approved by it. A building committee in India was appointed by the Board, consisting of Kuder, chairman, Schmidt and Pohl. Kuder began by digging a well to insure a good supply of water. Material was being gathered and the foundations were about to be laid, when Schmidt again reached the field after a furlough in Germany and America. He objected to the arrangements which had been made and to the plans, some difficulty arose with regard to the transfer of the site to the Mission, the Board's treasury became somewhat embarrassed because of a lack of funds and the whole undertaking was indefinitely postponed.
In India the Jubilee Year was inaugurated by the consecra- tion of the new Emmanuel Chapel at Dowlaishwaram,^ on the 9th of January, during the meeting of the Mission Conference. All the native agents, 160 in number, attended the service of consecration. McCready and Arps conducted the last service in the old schoolhouse. Ten missionaries, including a number of visiting missionaries, all in clerical robes, led the procession to the door of the new building, where the 24th Psalm was read responsively by Arps and the school children. Baehnisch read the first Scripture
• lesson (Genesis 28:16-19); Kuder, the second (Psalm 122); Isaacson, the third (Psalm 84); Pastor Joseph, the fourth (Luke 19:1- 10); Pastor Paulus, the fifth and sixth (Psalm 51 and I Kings 8:1-13, 22-30). Pohl preachec^ the sermon and performed the act of consecration. Arps offered the prayer of consecration and baptized an infant, his l&rst baptism as a missionary. Missionary Schultze of the Breklum Mission pronounced the benediction. In the evening a supper of rice and curry was served.
All of the Rajahmundry missionaries attended the First
^ This chapel is 45 feet long and 15 feet wide with an altar niche 8 feet wide. It has now become entirely inadequate, and a larger building, for which plans and specifications have been approved by the Board, should be provided.
;c*^:*l_:jU:iS^--:r"".
EMMANUEL'S CHAPEL AT DOWLAISHWARAM
W<0^'
THE HOME OF THE MISSIONARY AT DOWLAISHWARAM
AUGUSTANA CHURCPI AT SAMULKOT INTERIOR OF SAMrr.Kor (III'KCM
THE JUBILEE YEAR (1895) 309 Joint Conference of Lutheran Missions in the Telugu country, held at Guntur, January 17-19, 1895. Besides the Guntur and Rajahmundry Missions the Schleswig-Holstein or Breklum and the Hermannsburg Missions sent delegates.^
After this Conference Arps went back to Dowlaishwaram to take independent charge of that district, assisted by Pastor Joseph and 18 teachers. "Here in the town of Dowlaishwaram," he wrote, "four different denominations have congregations, namely, the Roman Catholics, the Plymouth Brethren, the Canadian Baptists and the Lutherans. This is to be deplored, but being the case it becomes necessary for our Christians and especially for our teachers to know what is Lutheran." Arps got a box of medicines for epileptics from Bielefeld, Germany, in January, 1895, and began the treatment of 19 persons afflicted with this dread disease, some of whom he was able to relieve. Concerning the work of a foreign missionary he wrote: "It is, indeed, a high honor to be a mis- sionary among heathen; but only for one who can accept the darker hours with a grateful heart and can subdue the evil powers with patient confidence of faith. Believe me, there are times when a missionary would rather break stones than do the work of a missionary. Nevertheless, love for the poor heathen will finally overcome all hindrances, all their wiles and wickedness, all their pride and blindness, all their un- gratefulness and hardness of heart."
Miss Sadtler left Rajahmundry on April 8th, the Board having given her special permission to return to the United States in order to attend the golden wedding anniversary of her parents, the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Benjamin Sadtler, of Baltimore, Md. "Holy week," wrote Pohl, "saw the depar- ture of Miss Sadtler. Palm Sunday afternoon the congre- gation at Rajahmundry assembled for an hour of prayer, and we prayed God to give our sister a safe journey home. Our Christians presented her, whom they all respect and love, a ^ Those who took part in the program were Unangst, Uhl, Wolf, Harpster, Aberly, Dr. Anna Kugler and Miss A. L. Sadtler, of the Guntur Mission; Kuder, Pohl and Miss Agnes I. Schade, of the Rajahmundry Mission; Schultze and Harless, of the Breklum Mission; Woerrlein and Maneke, of the Hermannsburg Mission.
3IO THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL beautifully bound Telugu Bible. We shall miss her very much. She has the happy faculty of seeing the bright side of things."
After Easter Pohl made his first trip to Gonegudem, Chodawaram and Rampa in the hill country. Of Chodawaram he wrote: "I had imagined it to be a small village, but it consists of nothing more than a police-station, a rest-house, a hospital of three little rooms, unoccupied, half a dozen small buildings for native officials, also unoccupied, and a few huts. Around each building a bamboo fence is built to about a man's height, as a means of defence against the possible attack of jungle tribes." Rampa he found to consist of only twenty huts built in two separate clusters of ten each, about half a mile apart in the midst of the jungle. Of the hill tribes he said, "How different they are from the Telugus in physiognomy and customs! With fiery patriotism they speak of the times of the Pituri, the rebellion and the loss of their ancient rights, which led them to rebel. In Rampa and Durachin- tapalem, ten miles apart, we have twenty-five Christians, nine of whom are communicants."^
In accordance with a resolution of the Mission Council adopted in January, 1894, and approved by the Board, the boarding girls were withdrawn from the "Seminary" and or- ganized as a separate school under the direction of Miss Agnes I. Schade. A building was rented at 60 rupees a month, and the school was opened June 18, 1895, with 19 boarders and 25 day pupils. By the end of the first month the number of boarders had increased to 29. The school building contained but three rooms, each 14 feet long and 12 feet wide. The verandah had to be used to accommodate some of the classes. Besides her work in connection with this school. Miss Schade undertook to manage the Hindu Girls' School at Riverdale, the Artman Mohammedan Girls' School and the zenana work.
After the girls had been withdrawn, the Seminary was con- ' Pohl baptized two persons on this visit to Rampa. On his homeward way he visited Jembupatnam and Srirangapatnam, where a few inquirers resided; Nallaiionda, where a service was held; Kateru and Gadala, where a few Chris- tians lived.
THE JUBILEE YEAR (1895) 31I tinued as a Boys' Boarding School under Kuder; 134 boys were enrolled/ changes were made in the staff of teachers,^ and the promising graduates of the Lower Secondary Department were sent to the Government High School in the town. A new curriculum of Bible studies for those who expected to become teachers in the Mission was introduced, including Biblical History, Church History, Biblical Introduction, Bible Geography, Catechism and a little Homiletics.
The question of Industrial Schools in connection with the Mission was revived at this time, and the Board was pressed for a decision. Lace-making had been begun again; McCready continued to carry on the industry of tile-making at Tallapudi; and Schmidt had developed the work of the prin- tery at Rajahmundry. The Board discussed this question in its report to the General Council in 1895, ^s follows: "Our missionaries, some hold, are sent out to preach the Gospel, and to allow them to spend their time in the carrying on of this or that industry seems to them to be, to say the least, a misuse of their time and talents. On the other hand, it is said, they must necessarily do other things besides that of preaching the Gospel, as for instance, the erection of houses for themselves, of schools and churches; and whether the supervision of an industrial school is not only another branch of the work of a missionary is a question that is not so easily answered." The Board refused to assume any responsibility for the indus- trial work already established, discouraged its development and declined to approve any new industrial enterprise.^ ^ Of these, 120 were supported by scholarships in America. The school received Rs. 310 government grant during 1894-5. 2 R. Samuel took K. Gabriel's place. M. William was discharged and L. Johann employed in his stead. N. Charles, a son of Pastor Paulus, was added to the staff. M. Devadas was sent to the local Normal School; K. Gabriel and B. Anandam to the Government High School. A gymnastic master was employed at Rs. 12a month. ^ On January 27, 1896, the Board adopted the following resolutions: "This Board is not in a position either to institute anything new or to continue work now in operation, unless it can be done without expense to this Board. Resolved, therefore, That this Board in accordance with its action taken at its meeting July 15, 1895, will not institute any new industrial schools or continue those already established unless they can be continued or instituted without any expense to this Board at this time—for financial reasons; and be it further Resolved, That if a missionary thinks it proper and desirable to continue or organize an industrial school—such schools at no time to be an expense to our , 312 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
The question of building a sanitarium for our missionaries and their famihes somewhere on the hills or at the seashore was also decided adversely by the Board, because "the demands of other parts of the work seemed to be of greater importance." Dr. and Mrs. Schmidt with their daughter came to America from Denmark in the spring of 1895, reaching Philadelphia April 19th. He was in great demand as a lecturer on our Telugu Mission in India and carried out an extensive itinerary. He met with the Board six times during the year, and his advice concerning the proposed hospital, sanitarium. Seminary site and buildings, new rules and regulations for the Mission and other matters was very useful. Among other matters that of estabhshing a High School for boys at Peddapur was dis- cussed, but no definite conclusion was reached. Dr. Edman, who had drawn the attention of the Board to this subject at a conference with the Board in April, urged that the boys' school which he had begun at Peddapur in 189 1, as a primary school, and which was attended by a large number of Brahmin boys, should be raised to the standard of a high school or college, and Schmidt seconded the proposal, but the Board hesitated.^
Another interesting subject which Schmidt discussed with the Board was his land endowment scheme. At its meeting on July loth, a letter was read to the Board from Mr. John G. Haas of Lancaster, Pa., in which he stated that he had given Dr. Schmidt the sum of $3000 with which to build a church in India, in memory of his departed wife, Charlotte Sophia, and $5000 in addition to be kept as a trust fund, the proceeds of which were to be used for the support of a native pastor who should serve the congregation worshipping in the memorial church. "Dr. Schmidt," continue the Board's min- treasury—such work shall be under the supervision of the Mission Council reports of its progress shall be made regularly to the Council, and all profits accruing therefrom shall be paid into the Mission treasury." 1 This school at Peddapur was continued by Isaacson, who, in March, 1895, raised it to the grade of a Lower Secondary School, and placed it in charge of Ramo Rao, as headmaster. This school met all of its expenses from fees and government grant and from the private purse of the Isaacsons. In 1897 a large building was rented and occupied by the Lower Secondary Department, the Primary Department remaining in the old building as a separate department.
THE JUBILEE YEAR (1895) 313 utes, "explained that he had received these $8000 at differ- ent times for the purpose specified, that he had placed the money at interest, and that the reason he had not mentioned it before was that it was Mr. Haas' expressed desire not to have it mentioned. Dr. Schmidt stated that he had commenced building the memorial church near Mahadevipatnam, which by resolution he was authorized to complete according to the desire of the donor ; and the balance of the $8000 was to be invested in land in India." It was, furthermore, resolved by the Board to request the Mission Council in India to suggest some one who might be called as the native pastor of the con- gregation, when organized; and the thanks of the Board was expressed to Mr. Haas for his generous gifts.
Other gifts for special objects received during 1895, were those of the Sunday school of St. Johannis' Church, Reading, Pa., and of two brothers, members of the same congregation, for the support of the native pastors Joseph and Paulus, and one of $600, secured through Mrs. H. E. Jacobs from two unnamed donors, husband and wife, for a new mission-boat which was named the "Margaret" and was used by Arps in the Dowlaishwaram district.
While the Women's Missionary Society of the Philadelphia Conferences was looking for a woman physician wilHng to go to India, it learned of the desire of Miss Charlotte Swenson of Axtell, Kan., to become a foreign missionary, and presented her name to the Board. Upon the recommendation of mem- bers of the Swedish Augustana Synod and after having passed a satisfactory medical examination, she was called by the Board on May 27, 1895. Charlotte Swenson, the third woman missionary of the General Council, was born January 8, 1870, in Langhult, Himryd, Sweden. She was taken to America by her parents, Anders and Anna Maria Swenson, when she was eight years old. The family lived at Axtell, Kansas, where her father died in 1879. She was confirmed in the Swedish Lutheran Church near Axtell. She attended Bethany College, Linds- borg, Kan., and was graduated from its Normal Department. Having accepted the call of the Board of Foreign Missions,
314 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENEEAL COUNCIL she was commissioned on July 17, 1895, in St. James' German Lutheran Church, Philadelphia. This service was also a fare- well meeting with Dr. and Mrs. Schmidt, in whose company Miss Swenson sailed from New York on July 20th. They reached Rajahmundry in the midst of a cyclonic storm on September 5th. After his arrival in India Schmidt resumed charge of the Bhimawaram and the Rajahmundry-Korukonda districts, Pohl taking the oversight of the newly formed Tadepalligudem district with headquarters in the town of the same name, where he supervised the erection of a missionary's residence. Unable to secure the material which he wanted, it became necessary for him to choose and cut down trees, have them sawed into boards and carted to the building place, make the lime and the bricks under his personal supervision, and, indeed, give his personal attention to every detail of construction.
The Board reported the following statistics for the Jubilee Year at the convention of the General Council in Easton, Pa., October 9-15, 1895:
Foreign missionaries 8 Number of Christians 4484 Wives of missionaries 8 Communicants 1763 Woman missionaries 3 Stations and out-stations 198 Native pastors 2 Schools 102 Native workers 143 Pupils in school 1893
In May, 1895, the Board increased the amount allowed per quarter for general expenses in India to $1400, and in October, to $1500. The receipts of the Board for the biennium, 1893-95, were $40,783.61; the expenditures, $37,333.39. This was an increase of receipts over the previous biennium of $7927.09, and an increase of expenditures amounting to $6489.69.1
1 The Rev. Carl A. Blomgren, Ph. D., and the Rev. J. J. Heischmann, D. D,, were elected by the General Council to take the places of the Revs. G. Nelsenius and E. Elofscn. At its reorganization meeting after the General Council the Board re-elected its former oflSicers.