which the second Meru Sattyavrata and which there were about 360 boys and one his family were preserved during an uni- hundred girls. Respectable and wealthy versal deluge, rested on one of the peaks people in some of the villages seem more of Meru, which was called Arayavrata, willing than heretofore to send their daughalmost the same as Ararat of the Scripters to school, and the interest in the educatures. Hence I conclude that the account of Meru in our books is only a tion of females seems to be increasing. In transcript of Ararat and the garden of the female boarding-school at the station, Eden combined-a fragment of tradi- during the past year, not only were the va tional history of events well remember-cancies filled, but additions were made to ed at the time of the dispersion from the former number, so that the school at the Babel. time of the report embraced eighty pupils, of whom twenty-three were members of the church. Four had during the year been married to christian husbands. It was in If these notions respecting the garden of Eden and Ararat were known to the whole race before the confusion of tongues, you will ask, How is it that so many nations as are scattered upon the this school that the interesting revival, de face of the earth retain no knowledge of these things; and that the Hindoos only have taken a copy of them, and appropriated them to their mountains at the north, through, as you say, national pride, or some other reason? The answer is this, As the Hindoos have their Maha Meru, so all the principal heathen nations have had their own sacred garden and mountain. This was true of the Cretans, Trojans, and Goths. The Greeks and Romans had their Olympus; the Africans their Mount Atlas; and the Budhists of Siam consider Adam's peak in Candy or Ceylon, as the sacred mountain and abode of the gods. As a church we have cause for thank Hence the conclusion is, although fulness that we have had no necessity for many nations have had some idea of the discipline, but our standard of religious truths recorded in the Mosaical history, enjoyment has been low. Two of our yet they have greatly changed and ob- church have been removed by death. scured them by their wild fancies, and On the 26th of February, Antachy (the in their mythological connections. The mother of Claudius Buchanan, Joanna long lapse of time since the dispersion, Lathrop, Mary Codman, and Sarah Maand the want of historal records, esperia Steal) was removed, after an illness cially the Scriptures, together with the of several months, from a state of great natural tendency of men to depart from suffering to rest, as we trust, in Jesus. God to the gross worship of sensual ob- By her patience and meekness she has jects, will abundantly account for all the left on my mind a strong evidence of the perversions of the truth, and the diversi- worth of faith and love, in the hour of ties of the different systems. suffering and of death. She was one of the first who joined our church at this Wherefore, what is said in the Scanda Purana about Meru and the gods Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, India, and others who abide therein ought to be considered mere fables or rather, a fanciful, distorted relic of the fathers of the human race, showing that they were mere men. station. The death of Nicholas Permander, one of our native preachers, is a cause of general mourning. His character stood high among the people generally. His education in Tamul studies was very fair, and his integrity was a subject of general remark. Ten years he rolled round the idol temples at the festivities to fulfil a VOW. After he embraced Christianity he, with the exception of marrying a heathen wife, for which he wept bittetly afterwards, was consistent, kind to the poor, and enjoyed a happy spirit. He died suddenly, but triumphantly; and even in death his words and patient endurance made a deep impres-joy of mind which was given me, I medision on his wife and other relatives. Our congregations on the Sabbath have been much as formerly, amounting to about 400, including children. On the whole, some advance has been made in securing the confidence of the people, especially in connection with the schools. tated on that I had read, and committed to memory by day and by night, while in the house and by the way, committing in one month three or four hundred verses. "About that time all the people began to speak about the wonderful fact that a man had cut off his tongue at Skanda Swamy's temple, and still lived. They Account of a Girl in one of the Free praised their god, and said, 'The God of Schools. the missionaries is defeated, and our god has conquered; and all ran to see the I was Of the following biographical sketch, Mr. wonder and spoke of it to me. Spaulding remarks The account was written by herself in Tamul, at the request of Mr. Hall, and, as far as I am acquainted with facts, is correct, but much shorter than it should be. It may show, however, the influence of our native free schools. "I have four sisters and one beloved brother. My father gave my two older sisters their dowry, and married them to heathens. Both they and we then worshipped devils, and were on the way to hell. At that time a teacher of the christian religion (missionary) came and asked my father to send his children to school. Though he told the missionary that he would send them, still, as soon as he was gone, he said to us, 'Well, after I am dead let it go as it may, but while I am alive you should not go beyond the gate.' As I was desirous of learning, I used to beg my grandmother to go with me to the school. She promised, but deceived me. After that the cholera came, and both my father and mother died in one day. As we four children were small, we could not live alone, so we went to our grandfather. Our grand parents loved us more than their own children, and instead of neg-|| lecting us, sold their own property to support us. After that God was our father and mother, and caused my younger sister and brother to be taught in the mission schools. Though I was very desirous of learning, still they would not let me go, on account of my age. I learned my alphabet, however, of my sisters, at night, in leisure moments. After that, by the grace of God, I went to a school, learned as fast as I could, and became even the monitor to those who had been in the school before me, and in about six months I could read readily. After that I read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Acts of the Apostles, aud was much struck with the miracles and wonders which Jesus Christ had done. In consequence of the then in great distress, and cried out, "Mr. Woodward urged me to commence a school, though I should get only five children. I commenced accordingly, and collected about forty children. Not only this, I had a meeting once a week, and exhorted the women. After a short time, I joined the church, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, not only I, but, including myself, four, two sisters and my brother, belong to the church. "After that, in consequence of the death of our teacher, who did so much for us, I was in great distress, and said, Now who knows our poverty and will have compassion on us? Our father and mother are dead. Our property is spent, our relations cast us off, and our minister, who was our benefactor, is also dead! Thus for six months I sorrowed and was like the stock of a tree, lying near the bank of a river, tossed by its waters. I then looked around upon those who had studied in the same class with me. Though they had said they were anxious about their souls, still as soon as they were of age they married heathens, and with their fathers and mothers turned back to the worship of devils. In the mean time I wondered at the way in which I had been saved. As I had no guardians, I committed myself to the missionaries, and through their help I am safe. Were it not for this I should have been lost like my companions. If my father and my mother had lived they would not bave let me go to school. Though I had studied, still if I had had property, then that would have hindered me from teaching a school. It is very astonishing that God has delivered me from all these hindrances. Moreover it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Therefore, I greatly reioice, because it it is better for us to be poor, and serve Jesus Christ, and be saved through him, than to be with our father and mother, or to be rich as my elder sisters are." Respecting the writer of the foregoing Mr. Spaulding adds the following remarks This individual is now married to a christian husband, and has one child named Daniel. On the day when the child was baptised, I said to her, Why do you call his name Daniel? Are you going to throw it into the den of lions? She replied, "Yes, if that is the Lord's will." She still continues to keep her school. Relative to the girls who have left the school members of the church, and have been married, Mr. Spaulding remarks Some of these are settled near our own stations and some live in the more distant villages, and one in Madura. They already exert a good influence, and are mothers of more than forty children, whom they train up in the fear of God, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Several of these children are in our boarding-schools, and two are members of our church. Southern India. COMMUNICATION FROM MR. WINSLOW, DATED AT MADRAS, JUNE 17, 1837. Schools-Congregations-Inquirers. THE Tamul village schools at Royapoorum, which, when I last wrote, were thirteen in number, were subsequently increased to sixteen; but for want of funds three have been dismissed, so that the number is the same as before. The three dismissed were old schools; the new ones were retained. They are all now doing as well as could be expected under existing circumstances. The children here seem more prompt to learn than those in Jaffna. Indeed they usually attend school more hours, there being three sessions, early in the morning, then after a late breakfast, and again after inner. At Jaffna they often go only once to school, especially if it be any distance, and never more than twice. There is, however, more irregularity in the attendance of the children here; and if there is more enterprise or activity of mind here, and more promptness to learn, there is also more readiness, as there are greater temptations, to learn and practice that which is evil. Most of those attending the schools are of good caste, and I am glad to say that no objection is made, so far as I know, by any to attending on divine worship at our house. Two Sabbaths since there were 343 present, a great part of whom had been assembled an hour previous to the service, in the manner of a Sabbath school. This includes the members of the two English schools, one of which is kept in our verandah, and the other in a neighboring village. The progress of the lads in these schools is very pleasing. Besides the children of the schools, the teachers and twenty or thirty other adults usually attend on preaching at the house on Sabbath morning, making a congregation of about 400; and were there a convenient place for assembling, many more would doubtless attend. At the schools there is occasional preaching on week days, attended by more or less adults as well as children, and on Sabbath evening I have frequently preached in a native school, supported by a few gentlemen within the lines of a regiment of Sepoys. A few native Christians attend, but the congregation is small. There have been at different times some eight or ten who have come as inquirers, and expressed more or less anxiety about their spiritual interests. There are now five who attend an inquiry meeting; but I will at present speak of only one of them. Two or three months ago in my excursions in the streets and villages to distribute tracts and make known the Savior, I frequently met in a populous street a young man who seemed bent on opposition. He at first abused the people for taking books, and ridiculed what I said about the Savior. He then occasionally would come and ask me for tracts, apparently with a design to raise objections against them. I, however, gave him books at different times, and urged him to read them seriously. At length, as I frequently met him, he began to enter into conversation, or rather to seek discussion on the subject of Christianity. At one time he said concerning a certain tract, "You ought not to distribute that, for it states that Siva is not omniscient, because he did not know that a devotee, to whom he gave power that whatever he should lay his hand on should be consumed, would seek to place that hand on his head and destroy him; whereas, in the Bible it is written that when men sinned, whom God had made holy, it repented him and grieved him to the heart; so that he was as much disappointed as was Siva." At another time he said, "Has not God said, 'Honor thy father and thy mother? but Jesus Christ, when at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, being spoken to by his mother about the want of wine, said to her, 'Woman, what have I to do with thee?' thus treating her with great disrespect." At this time he was reading the Scriptures. I had given him a New Testament, little expecting that he would make a good use of it, and subsequently also the first volume of the Old. Gradually there was a manifest change in his manner, and though he stated many dificulties and objections, as he went on in the perusal of the Scriptures, he seemed willing to have them solved. He began to come to the station at the weekly meetings of the schoolmasters, and to attend preaching. Nearly a month ago he came into the inquiry meeting, and has since seemed very much in earnest about his soul's salvation. He has thrown aside all the marks and badges of heathenism, has given up his pretensions to caste, borne the persecution of his friends, and seems resolved at every sacrifice to follow Christ. He is now very active in distributing tracts, and is urgent to be baptised. It is of course too soon to express any opinion in his case, farther than to say it is hopeful. Of Mrs. W.'s bible-class and Sabbath school for descendants of Europeans, since they were commenced, three of the members have joined Mr. Smith's church, and two are now under serious exercise of mind. In the distribution of Scriptures and tracts, and in the revision of those issuing from the press, much of my time continues to be occupied, as well as some part of it in English preaching. I have reason to bless God for a comfortable measure of health granted to me, and generally also to my family. The Lord's name be praised. LETTER FROM MR. TODD, DATED AT Decease of Mrs. Todd. In communicating information of the painful bereavement which he had been called to experience, Mr. Todd mentions that his wife was taken ill on the 29th of May, and in less than three days she was laid in the grave by the side of Mrs. Hall, who was called away by death at that station about a year and a half before. The disease of Mrs Todd was of a local and chronic character, and had been regarded for some years as rendering her liable to sudden death; though she had been unusually well for some months previous to her being called away. After remarking on the circumstances of her sickness up to the time when she was informed that she could live but a short time, Mr. Todd proceeds Her mind became calm and peaceful, and as she drew near her end, her views of the Savior and of heaven became bright and enrapturing. She was almost impatient to be absent from the body that she might be present with the Lord. She uttered many expressions like the following: "Jesus my all; he is my all; I see him altogether lovely, all bright and glorious, all bright and glorious; crown him Lord of all. I cannot tell you my thoughts, bnt I can tell Jesus how much I love him. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly; come now and take possession of my heart; come and bless this people; make this a blessed day to them; may they hear a voice from the grave." After the struggles of death had commenced, she at one time revived a little, and I asked her if Jesus was still precious. She replied, "Yes, he is my everlasting strength," and soon breathed her last. All the brethren and most of the sisters of this station were present. We all felt that it was good to be there. It brought us near to heaven. This is the third time, in less than two years, that I have had the privilege of witnessing the triumphant departure of the Lord's people. I deeply feel my own loss; but who would mourn for them when we read, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Mrs. Todd's attachment to her children had always been very strong. But from the commencement of her sickness, she most cheerfully gave them up into the hands of the Lord. Her greatest anxiety for them was that they might become Christians, and that the two sons, if prepared by the grace of God and a good education, might return to this country as missionaries. eventful one. Calcutta. From thence they sailed to || teachers in the several languages spoken in Bombay. About one year from the time of their arrival at Bombay Mr. Frost died. She resolved to continue at the station and do what she could. While at Bombay she was brought to the borders of the grave by sickness. The year after Mr. Frost's death, she was married to Rev. H. Woodward of Ceylon. On their way to Jaffna, they were shipwrecked on the Malabar coast, and narrowly escaped a watery grave. While at Jaffna she was repeatedly sick, nigh unto death. Twice she went with her sick husband to the Neilgherry Hills. During her last visit Mr. Woodward died at Coimbatoor, in August, 1834, just at the time this mission was commenced. She endured her trials with much chris tian fortitude, and now, as she reviews them, she can no doubt see that they were all ordered in mercy, and were happy preparations for the rest of heaven. Mr. Poor remarks in view of this afflictive event It has been most cheering and consoling to us to be in her company and witness the effects of the christian's hope in the hour of death and near prospect of eternity. She sang to-day [the day on which she died] with energy, "Jesus, lover of my soul," etc., going through with the whole stanza, and repeating the last words. To which Mr. Winslow adds The removal of our sister thus early from the field to which Providence had called her is a trying dispensation. Her services seemed to be much needed in the mission as well as in her own family, and she was much beloved. Ever since she joined the Tamul mission, now a little more than ten years ago, she has been gaining on the affections of those with whom she was connected, and increasing in her capacities and desires for usefulness as a missionary helper. Singapore. GENERAL LETTER FROM THE MISSIONARIES, DATED FEB. 28, 1837. Opening of the Mission Seminary. AMONG the objects embraced in the mission at Singapore was the establishment of a seminary for training native preachers and that quarter; and it was supposed that that place, being under British protection, cen tral in its situation, a free port, and much resorted to by the inhabitants of almost every nation of Southern Asia and the Indian Archipelago, afforded peculiar facili ties for conducting such an institution. Some difficulties have prevented the opening of the seminary se early as was anticipated, and may preven. its being hereafter conducted on so large a scale as was at first contemplated. It is not easy to retain pupils under the care of the mission a sufficient length of time, ard it may probably be found still less practicable to introduce pupils from the various countries in that quarter, and secure their attention to study till the desired object shall be accomplished. The terms on which pupils would be received have been decided upon by the brethren of the mission, and the Chinese department of the seminary has been opened, with the hope that it may be successfully continued. Respecting the difficulty which was apprehended of obtaining pupils on the proposed conditions, the brethren remark In this we were successful beyond our expectations. In our proposals we reserve the right of dismissing the boys for incapacity or incorrigibly bad behavior, at any time; and also of disbanding the school at the end of a year, if for any reason we should deem it expedient. The boys are placed entirely under our control, some for five and some for six years, with the liberty of visiting their parents one afternoon in each week, besides having a vacation of two weeks each year. On these terms we have received twelve boys from seven to twelve years of age; except one boy who is a criple, and who, with apparently very respectable talents, seems to possess a harmless disposition. He is fifteen years old. Several of these boys from very respectable Chinese families have been brought and offered to us, unsolicited, and we have rejected several who made application, some from their age and others from dullness or other circumstances, which seemed to render their connection with the school undesirable. And it is probable that one or two now in the school may be dismissed for want of capacity. The others are all promising in this respect. The school has now |