Part II, Chapter XVII — Under Dr. Harpster's Leadership (1903-05)
After the arrival of the reinforcements of 1902, no time was lost in organizing the Mission under the new Rules and Regulations. The Mission Council of all the missionaries was reconvened on December 30, 1902, elected ofl&cers and thereafter met regularly every third month. Arps was chosen as the representative of the ordained men and Miss Schade as the representative of the woman missionaries in the Exectuive Committee.^ Dr. Harpster, as the chairman of this committee appointed by the Board, was the ofl&cial correspondent. He succeeded Dr. Schmidt as the missionary in charge of the Bhimawaram and the Rajahmundry-Korukonda districts. Fichthorn was the treasurer in India and the superintendent of the boys' schools in Rajahmundry and Peddapur. He also conducted an English service every Sunday evening in St. Paul's Church, Rajahmundry. At Peddapur, an almost exclusively Brahmin town, about two miles west of Samulkot, a boys' school had been begun, in 1891, by Edman as a private school of the primary grade. When Isaacson succeeded Edman as the missionary in charge of the Samulkot district he continued the school and developed it, until in April, 1903, it was handed over to the Mis- sion as a High School, recognized by the Government. The Board accepted it on condition that a Christian Bible teacher should be employed. This condition was met the next year by the appointment of Pastor P. V. Ratnam to that position. The teaching staff, with M. Ramo Rao as headmaster, then consisted of eighteen quahfied Hindu teachers. The enrollment for the year 1904 was 475, most of the pupils being of the Brahmin caste. Two buildings were used, one for the Primary, the other for the Secondary and High School depart-
^ Later Isaacson was added to the committee.
UNDER DR. HARPSTER's LEADERSHIP (1903-05) 343 ments. The school grew so rapidly that the accommodations soon became inadequate, and a new site was purchased, in 1904, for $200 (Rs. 600).
After his return to the Mission Arps resumed charge of the Dowlaishwaram district but devoted a good part of his time for about a year to the building of a new bungalow on a new site, purchased for $500. The old building had been con- structed on black cotton soil and had to be condemned as not tenantable. The new bungalow, completed in 1904, to- gether with the digging of the well and some improvements, cost $2937. Meanwhile Arps also superintended the con- struction of a new mission house-boat which cost $600, and was named "The Augustana." It was used by Dr. Harpster in the Bhimawaram district. The old "Dove of Peace" was rebuilt for Neudoerfifer's use in the Tanuku taluk.
Dr. Edman, who after Arps' return devoted himself entirely to the Tallapudi district, employed more native Christian workers than he could pay with the mission funds appro- priated for his district, and contracted a considerable debt. The Board officially disapproved of his course of action and, when it learned that he nevertheless continued to increase the amount of his indebtedness, it requested his resignation. He left the Mission in May, 1903, and returned to the United States.
Miss Martha Strempfer, who gradually succumbed to the trials of the climate, left Rajahmundry March 8, 1903, and returned to her home in Toledo, 0.
Miss Weiskotten, who succeeded Miss Kate Sadtler as the manager of the Hindu Girls' School at Riverdale in 190J, was assisted by Miss Monroe, who also aided Miss Schade in the zenana work.
On January 25, 1904, a Training School for Mistresses was opened in connection with the Girls' Central School,^ which in May, that year, was recognized by the Government. Before that Miss Schade had been obliged to send the gradu- ates of her school to Guntur for training. Five girls were ^ In 1904 the names of the boarding schools were changed to " Boy's Central School" and "Girls' Central School."
344 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL enrolled in the first training class which was of a lower secondary grade. In order to make provision for this new department an addition was made to the main school build- ing, in 1905, at an expense of $740, Miss Schade contributing $140 out of her private purse. Miss Schade also began a school for Hindu girls of the weaver and shepherd castes in Jamipetta, Rajahmundry, in January, 1904, which commenced with an enrollment of thirty-five pupils, and another for girls of the Sudra caste in Mangalavarampetta, Rajahmundry, in March of the same year, which enrolled forty-three pupils. Both schools were conducted in rented buildings and with both Sunday schools were connected.
Meanwhile Miss Weiskotten organized three additional schools for Hindu girls : one in Old Rajahmundry, in Decem- ber, 1903, which was called the Bethlehem School, because it was supported by Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Phila- delphia;^ another in Lakshmivarampetta, Rajahmundry, in January, 1904, for girls of the Panchama caste; and a third in Aryapuram, Rajahmundry, in March, 1904, for girls of the Brahmin caste. These also were held in rented buildings and Sunday schools were connected with them. At the close of the year 1904, the enrollment in these schools was as follows: Bethlehem, 90; Lakshmivarampetta, 13; Aryapuram, 35; Riverdale, 70. The pupils in these schools are not Christians but Hindus. The teachers, however, are, as far as possible, Christian teachers, though the headmasters, as a rule, have been Hindus, it being a difficult matter to secure qualified Christian headmasters.
For the Aryapuram school a site was purchased with funds contributed by Miss Weiskotten's friends in America and Germany, and a fine school house was erected by a Brahmin lawyer, M, Achutaramayya, as a gift from his wife. This building was opened with impressive exercises on January 23, 1907.
^ The Riverdale School was still being supported by the Women's Missionary societies of St. John's and St. Mark's churches, Philadelphia. After Miss Weiskotten's furlough in America, Riverdale School was assigned to St. John's alone, and St. Mark's assumed the support of the Aryapuram School.
THE ARYAPURAM HINDU GIRLS' SCHOOL This building is the gift of a Brahmin lawyer. PUPILS OF THE ARYAPURAM SCHOOL
This school is attended by Erahmin girls.
UNDER DR. HARPSTER'S LEADERSHIP (1903-05) 345
Isaacson with his family came to the United States on furlough in May, 1903, and Arps, in addition to his own dis- trict, assumed temporary charge of the Samulkot district. Neudoerffer, who went to TadepalHgudem in March, 1903, took charge also of the Tallapudi district after Edman's departure two months later.
One of the first achievements of Dr. Harpster was the settlement of the difficulty with Dr. Schmidt with regard to the transfer of certain mission property to the Trustees of the General Council for the Board. Writing from Rajahmundry under date of January 19, 1903, he communicated the follow- ing to the Board:
"In the letter of instruction given me for my guidance when I should arrive in India, occurs the following: 'Dr. Harpster may note and report to the Board any proposition Dr. Schmidt may make with reference to the property which he has not yet transferred to the Mission.' In another letter, dated October 31, 1902, the following instruction is given: 'Resolved, That the Executive Committee be instructed to treat with Dr. Schmidt, first, to decide what properties belong to this Board; and, secondly, what is the just value of Dr. Schmidt's interests in any property to which our Mission has a claim, and to report to this Board at what price Dr. Schmidt's interests may be purchased, itemizing the proper- ties.' The properties in which Dr. Schmidt claims an interest are the following: i. The Riverdale land, which he values at Rs. 36,300. 2. The parcel of ground once selected as a site of the 'Seminary' and containing thirty acres, more or less, which he values at Rs. 3000. 3. The plot of ground on which the mission church at Velpur stands, containing two acres, which he values at Rs. 400. 4. The land along the street opposite the Rajahmundry church, occupied by some native houses, valued at Rs. 400. 5. Mission property or so much of it as required by the Mission, no value fixed. Total, Rs. 40,100 ($13,367). All the above property Dr. Schmidt agrees to convey to the Mission, under a duly executed conveyance, on the following conditions: i. That the General Council, acting through its Board of Foreign Missions, pay
346 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL to his wife and himself, or to the survivor during life, three hundred dollars ($300) annually. 2. That it pay to his daughter. Miss Dagmar Schmidt, one years' salary, viz., five hundred dollars ($500). 3. That it pay him the salary which was due him at the rate which he had hitherto received, up to August I, 1902, viz., six hundred dollars ($600).
"Yours faithfully,
J. H. Harpster."
"I hold myself in readiness to carry out in good faith the above agreement, provided the General Council, through its Foreign Mission Board, will, under a formal document, guarantee to myself and wife, or the survivor during life, the annual payment of the sum of three hundred dollars.
"H. C. Schmidt."!
After mature consideration the Board resolved: "That in consideration of the transfer by Dr. Schmidt to the Gen- eral Council by good and sufficient title, clear of all incum- brances, of the properties mentioned, this Board agrees that Miss Dagmar Schmidt be allowed the sum of $500, and Dr. Schmidt be allowed the sum of $600, and that the same be paid by the appropriation of $900 out of the $1000 pre- viously sent Dr. Schmidt, and a cash payment to Dr. Schmidt for the balance, viz., $200; and that the Board recommend to the General Council that it agree to pay annually to Dr. Schmidt and wife, or the survivor of them during hfe, $300, from the date of the conveyance of the properties and giving possession thereof."
Dr. Schmidt vacated Riverdale bungalow in March, 1903, and moved to Kotagiri, Nilgiri Hills, where he had built two houses. Dr. and Mrs. Harpster at once moved into this bungalow and continued to occupy it as long as they remained in India. The payment of the stipulated annuity began in
^ After having read over the correspondence one cannot avoid the impression that Dr. Schmidt felt that he had to bring pressure to bear upon the Board in order to secure a pension. The Board would unquestionably have granted the pension without such pressure. Moreover, it must be remembered that the property to which he laid claim, was largely such as he had already donated to the Mission, but which had not yet been legally transferred.
UNDER DR. HARPSTER's LEADERSHIP (1903-05) 347 April, 1903, although the deed of transfer was not actually executed until April, 1904.
During the first year of medical work substantial progress was made. As many as 2026 new patients came to the Dis- pensary, making 4998 visits. Dr. Lydia Woerner also made 432 visits to patients in houses and performed 84 surgical operations. Sunday schools were conducted for patients and Eurasian children in the Dispensary and Medical Home. A temporary hospital was opened in 1904 in a rented build- ing in Rajahmundry.
In 1903 the Board began to pursue a more Hberal policy in the matter of allowances to missionaries. A horse was purchased for each missionary needing one, and horse allowance of $80 a year was granted. The summer vacation was lengthened to eight weeks. The heavier furniture in the bungalows was provided. Munshi (teacher's) allowance was granted new missionaries while studying the language, and additional batta (travelhng allowance) was allowed for missionaries on tour. The travelhng expenses of the members of the Board, when attending meetings, were also paid. When Isaacson returned to the Mission in 1904, the allowance for each child of a mis- sionary, over seven years of age, separated from its parents to be educated, was raised from $50 to $100 a year.
At the convention of the General Council in the church of the Trinity, Norristown, Pa., on Friday evening, October 9, 1903, the Rev. Edward H. TrafTord, then pastor of the Pike- land charge near Kimberton, Pa., was commissioned as a foreign missionary. He arrived at Rajahmundry in Decem- ber, that year, and after having studied the vernacular and assisted several of the older missionaries, he resigned in January, 1908, and returned to the United States. The Rev. Karl L. Wolters, called as the missionary to be supported by the Luther Leagues of Buffalo, was commis- ^ Several changes occurred in the membership of the Board in 1903. The Rev. J. J. Heischmann, D. D., and Mr. James Dangler resigned. The General Council that year elected the following new members: The Revs. John A. W. Haas, D. D., and George Drach, and Messrs. P. A. Rydberg, W. F. Monroe and J. Martin Rommel; but the last named declined to serve and the Board elected Mr. Charles B. Opp to fill the vacancy.
348 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL sioned on Sunday evening, June 12, 1904, in Christus Church, Buffalo, the Rev. T. H. Becker pastor, in the presence of the New York Ministerium. He was born October 26, 1863, in Hamburg, Germany. He is a son of the Rev. Karl J. Wolters and his wife Mary Louise, nee Averdieck. His father served as a pastor of St. Peter's Church, Hamburg, for many years. After having studied at the Imperial Gymnasium, Flensborg, Germany, he came to the United States when he was twenty- four years of age. He studied theology in the Lutheran Seminary at Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in 1890. For three years he served the Lutheran congregation at Phoenixville, Pa., and then went to Utica, N. Y., where he served eleven years. On his way to India he spent several months with his father in Hamburg, Germany, and then he proceeded to Rajahmundry, which he reached in December, 1904.
Mr. and Mrs. Isaacson with their four younger children left the United States October 3, 1904, to return to the Mis- sion. Their two sons were left in Bethany College, Linds- borg, Kansas. The daughters who were taken to India were later sent to a school at Kodaikanal.
Fichthorn, having suffered severely from the climate of South India, asked to be permitted to return to the United States. Permission was given, and after the Board had heard him at its meeting on April 21, 1904, it accepted his resignation in the following resolution: "Resolved, That the Board accepts the resignation of the Rev. A. S. Fichthorn with regret, the resignation to take effect May ist, and hereby gives expression to its sense of the value of the service he has rendered, and its deep regret that he has been unable to con- tinue in its employment." By contributions from his private purse and by largely increased offerings from the influential congregations which he afterward served—the church of the Holy Communion, Philadelphia, and the church of the Trinity, Norristown, to whose pastorate he returned in November, 1907—he more than made up what the Board had expended to send him to India and bring him back. From October, 1905, to October, 1907, he served as a member
UNDER DR. HARPSTER'S LEADERSHIP (1903-05) 349 of the Board. He died on January 29, 1912, in Norristown, aged fifty-three years. Wackernagel succeeded Fichthorn as the treasurer in India and the manager of the boys' schools. After the title to the property just outside of Rajahmundry, which Dr. Schmidt had donated as the site of the new build- ings for the Boys' Central School, had been established beyond all uncertainty, it was decided to proceed at once with the erection of the much-needed buildings. Ten acres of adjoining land, containing a lime-kiln, were purchased for $458. Plans and estimates for a main building, a dormitory and a missionary's dwelling, prepared in India, were approved by the Board in September, 1904. Mr. F. J. McCready, formerly one of the missionaries, was employed as the super- intendent of construction. The corner-stone of the main building was laid with appropriate ceremonies on July 25, 1905, and the contract called for the completion of all the buildings in eighteen months, but the illness of Mr. McCready from cholera, and other matters, delayed the building operations.
Charges were preferred against Pastor C. James and were investigated by the ordained missionaries, meeting as a Ministerium on February 2, 1905, the result being the definite suspension of James from the office of the holy ministry by the Board of Foreign Missions on the recommendation of the Ministerium. In 1905 Neudoerfifer purchased for the Mission a houseboat for $200, giving it the name of ''The Canada." The year 1905 was marked by the return of Miss Charlotte Swenson to the Mission, and the addition of two ordained men and one woman missionary to the force in India.
Miss Swenson, after having regained her health in Cali- fornia and having been pronounced by competent physicians to be entirely free from every trace of tuberculosis, requested the Board to send her back to the Mission. Recalling her excellent work during her first term of service in India, and being very much in need of some one to take charge of the zenana work, the Board decided to send her back. A fare-
35© THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL well service was held in the Gustavus Adolphus Swedish Lutheran Church, New York City, January 13, 1905. Miss Swenson reached Rajahmundry on February 24th. She threw all her restored energy into the zenana work and managed it with marked success for over a year. In 1906 she reported four Bible-women at work in Rajahmundry and one in Dowlaishwaram, 230 houses visited weekly in the former and 40 in the latter town, and over 1200 women and children re- ceiving regular rehgious instruction from her and her Biblewomen. She also began and conducted a number of Sunday schools in different parts of Rajahmundry. Her health, however, suffered under the strain of her work, and in January, 1908, she was granted a sick-leave in Austraha. She returned from this trip in a few weeks only slightly benefited and gradually succumbed to consumption, which caused her death on July 20, 1908. Her life was a beautiful example of self-sacrificing ministry to her Lord. All the mis- sionaries and native Christians paid tributes to her noble character and her valuable service. She was the first woman missionary to lay down her life on our foreign mission field. Her body was buried in the Christian cemetery at Rajahmundry. In her last will and testament she bequeathed all her earthly possessions to the Mission which she had so faithfully and lovingly served.^
As the time of Dr. Woerner's furlough drew near, the neces- sity of sending out a woman physician to take her place during the time of furlough and to co-operate in the medical work became pressing. Neither Miss Amy B. Rohrer nor Miss Betty A. Nilsson, under preparation as medical missionaries, were ready to be sent out at this time. Fortunately the Board heard of the wilhngness of Dr. Juha Van der Veer to go to India at once, and after having been introduced to the Board by Dr. Mary Baer of the Guntur Mission, then on furlough, ^ In the Arbuthnot failure of iqo6 she suffered the loss of all her deposits in that bank, but generous friends in the United States reimbursed her account. Six hundred dollars of the Charlotte Swenson Fund have been invested by the Board in the United States. Several of the women's missionary societies are gathering money to increase this fund in the hope that ultimately enough will be secured to erect a Charlotte Swenson Memorial.
UNDER DR. HARPSTER'S LEADERSHIP (1903-05) 351 she was duly called. She was born in Bushnell, 111., but afterward moved with her parents to Peabody, Kan., where she attended the pubhc school and was graduated from the High School of that place. She took her medical course in the Woman's Medical College, Baltimore, the Woman's Medical College, Philadelphia, and Johns Hopkins Univer- sity. She then entered the Deaconess Home and Motherhouse of the General Synod at Baltimore, and was a consecrated sister in that institution when she was called to go to Rajahmundry. The Baltimore Motherhouse released her from every obhgation in order to permit her to accept the call of the Board. She was commissioned on September 24, 1905, in St. Mark's English Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, and arrived at Rajahmundry November 23d, that year. She took Dr. Woerner's place in the medical work at Rajahmundry while the latter was on furlough in America. She was married on January 22, 1907, to the Rev. Ernst Neu- doerffer in St. Paul's Church, Rajahmundry, by Dr. Harp- ster, the ceremony being performed in the presence of the missionaries and a large congregation of native Christians. This was the first wedding of General Council missionaries on the field.
The three years of the special arrangement with the Board of Foreign Missions of the General Synod for the services of Dr. Harpster expired on April i, 1905. The General Council's Board requested that he be permitted to remain at Rajahmun- dry, inasmuch as his removal would be disastrous to the work. Upon this representation the General Synod's Board very courteously decided not to disturb the arrangement and to make it indefinite in its duration. In 1906 Dr. Harpster transferred his membership from the Maryland Synod to the Pennsylvania Ministerium and thus became a missionary of the General Council in the service of its Board.
The two ordained men sent out in 1905 were the Revs. 0. L. Larson and 0.0. Eckardt.
Oscar Leonard Larson, son of Lars Peter Larson and his wife Maria, nee Johnson, was bom July 2, 1876, in Mead, Neb. He studied at Luther Academy, Wahoo, Neb., and
352 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL then entered Augustana College, Rock Island, 111., from which he was graduated in 1902. Three years later, having taken the theological course in Augustana Seminary, he was ordained at the meeting of the Augustana Synod, June 11, 1905, in Stanton, la. Ten days afterward he married Lillie Olivia LiHedahl of Swedesburg, Neb. Having accepted the call of the Board of Foreign Missions, he was commissioned at the convention of the General Council in the church of the Redeemer, Milwaukee, Wis., October 12, 1905. In the company of the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Eckardt they sailed from Philadelphia, and, after spending a few weeks in Sweden, they proceeded to Rajahmundry, which was reached January 16, 1906. Olaus Olson Eckardt, son of Olaf Martin Anderson and his wife Agneta, nee Anderson, was born May 19, 1872, in Lur, Bohnslaen Province, Sweden. He came to the United States at the age of seventeen. He studied at Upsala Col- lege and completed his classical course in Augustana College. After having begun his theological studies in the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Chicago, he finished at Augustana Seminary from which he was graduated in 1905. He was ordained at the same time as the Rev. Mr. Larson. On September 27, 1905, he married JuHa Ameha Swanson, of Cambridge, 111. Commissioned together with Mr. Larson, he accompanied him to India. The Young Ladies' Foreign Missionary Society of the First Swedish Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minn., for a number of years has contributed a part of Mr. Eckardt's salary.
Parallel with the development of the Mission and the in- crease of missionaries an effort was made by the Board, in 1905, to provide for a more efficient home administration by the distribution of its members into standing committees, each charged with some particular branch of the mission work.
On the recommendation of the Finance Committee a special fund was created and maintained in India, in 1905, known as the Emergency Fund from which small, incidental expenses are paid as needed, thus obviating the necessity of continually sending little sums of money for special purposes. A form of
UNDER DR. HARPSTER'S LEADERSHIP (1903-05) 353 contract between the Board and its missionaries, still in use, was adopted in 1905.^ The business management of "The Foreign Missionary" was transferred on July i, 1905, to the Board of Publication of the General Council. At the close of that year the Rev. E. E. Sibole, D. D., resigned as the editor of "The Foreign Missionary," after twelve years of efficient and faithful service in that capacity. The editorship of this paper, after a brief period under the Rev. William Ashmead Schaeffer, D. D., was entrusted to the General Secretary of the Board, the Rev. George Drach,^ During the early part of 1905, much attention was given by the Board to the matter of securing some one who could attend its meetings and who should give all his time to its interests and act as its executive. This officer was to be called the General Secretary and his duties were defined as follows
"He shall give the President, Secretaries and Editors of the papers, such clerical assistance as the Board may determine from time to time.
"He shall present at each meeting of the Board a list of all letters and reports received from the missionaries since the former meeting, together with an outline of the contents and a statement of the points requiring action; and he may offer suggestions for proper action and shall be ready to furnish any letters included in the list, for consideration by the Board. "He shall file and preserve an index of all letters etc., to and from the missionaries, also copies of all correspondence from the Board, and he shall keep for reference an account of the business, treasury, schools and other work of the missionaries.
"He shall represent the Board before the synods, conven- tions and congregations, as directed by the Board, or during the interval by the President.
"He shall devise and recommend means to the Board for ^ See General Council Minutes, 1905, page 45. * In the place of Dr. J. A. W. Haas, resigned July, 1904, the Rev. John A. Weyl was elected a member of the Board, and in the place of Dr. C. A. Blomgren, resigned October, 1904, Dr. G. Nelsenius was elected.
354 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL increasing the income and developing the interest of the Church.
"He shall, as circumstances may require, gather and pre- sent to the Board information as to the methods of other Missions.
"He shall at every meeting of the Board give a detailed report of his work.
"He shall be ready to spend at least six months and not more than a year in India, to study the conditions, in case the Board should so require."
The Rev. George Drach, a member of the Board, then pastor of St. Stephen's Church, West Philadelphia, was chosen to fill this new office.
George Drach, eldest son of John Peter Drach and his wife S. A. Pauline, nee Simon, was born September 3, 1873, in Greenport, Long Island, N. Y. After having attended the public school in that village and passed through the two lower grades of the High School, he went to Rochester, N. Y., to study in Wagner Memorial Lutheran College from which he was graduated in 1892. He studied theology in the Seminary at Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, and was ordained in 1895, at the meeting of the New York Ministerium, in St. Peter's German Lutheran Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. After having supplied the pulpit of the church of the Ascension, Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, during the summer months of 1895, he became the assistant pastor of Trinity Church, Reading, Pa., remaining, after the resignation of the Rev. J. Fry, D. D., to supply the pulpit until a successor had been elected. Having received and accepted a call to become pastor of St. Stephen's Church, West Philadelphia, he began his pastorate there in June, 1897, serving for eight years, until he became the Gen- eral Secretary of the Board. He married on October 19, 1899, Marie Douglas Sterr of Philadelphia, a granddaughter, on her mother's side, of the Rev. C. F. Welden, D. D. In its report to the General Council in 1905, the Board recommended "that November 29th or a date near then be duly commemorated in our churches as a bicentenary of the saihng of Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Pluetschau
UNDER DR. HARPSTER'S LEADERSHIP (1903-05) 355 to India and of the foundation not only of Lutheran but of Protestant Foreign Missions." This recommendation was heartily adopted and in many churches the bicentennial was observed. The Board issued a special appeal for its obser- vance, and its President and General Secretary delivered a number of commemorative addresses at large gatherings in Philadelphia and elsewhere.
In the Introduction of the Report of the American Evan- gelical Lutheran Mission in the Godavery District, India, for the year 1904, presented by the Board to the General Council in 1905, Dr. Harpster wrote: "We call especial atten- tion to the statistical exhibit of the year. Unless this is given, an intelhgent grasp of the work cannot be gained. In almost every item our report shows an increase. The additions by baptisms during the year were 2056. Our baptized mem- bership now numbers 11,938. The number of inquirers, viz., the number undergoing instruction in the fundamental doc- trines of Christianity, with more or less earnestness on their part, is 2228. The pupils in our mission schools number 5227—a very gratifying increase over the previous report. In money and in kind our people gave during the year Rs. 2577-9-1 1 ($859), or an increase of Rs. 1779-7-2. The num- ber of congregations according to the statistical table increased by 24."
The following table of statistics shows the notable increase in every department of the mission.
1890. 189s. 1900. 1905. Foreign missionaries 4 7 5 9 Woman missionaries 2 3 $ 7 Native pastors 2 2 2 2 Native helpers 8g 138 140 235 Congregations 127 200 210 270 Christians 3056 5036 6159 12,822 Pupils in school 1473 2719 3500 5,736