Ceylon by Anna Orr

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 28, 1903

Ceylon

By Anna Orr

COLOMBO.— The first of November I came south with a young lady who accepted the truth not long ago, and who had been canvassing and doing Bible work. We traveled toward Madras, stopping at different stations en route. The Lord blessed our efforts for the books and papers in every place.

At Hyderabad, the most oriental city I have seen in India, we were invited to a Mahratta dinner. The father and mother of the family were Christians. There was present a strange mixture of nationalities,—an Australian missionary, two English missionaries, an ex-Mohammedan, a converted Jewess, Bengalis, Mahrattas, and one American missionary. After dinner we had hymns in Mahratta, Bengali, and English. The dinner was served in native style. We sat down on mats, and had large plantain leaves for plates. This was my first experience in eating rice with my fingers, but I managed it fairly well. They had compassion when the pudding came, and brought us some spoons. I tasted a certain green, pretty-looking mixture on my plate. I paid dear for my experience. My mouth was on fire, and nature refused to pass over the outrage without giving expression in some way to the fact that my mucous membrane had been abused. The tears flowed freely.

After leaving Hyderabad, we came to Madras, where we remained over a month, and then came to Colombo, stopping at different stations en route, crossing over to Ceylon the 13th of January. We expect to finish in another week, and will soon go up the mountains to Nawaraeliya. Here we shall have a breath of cold weather. This is the warmest month in Ceylon, and it is very hot; but it is wonderful how the Lord has helped us to endure the heat. We go out about eight in the morning, and usually work till noon, and then go home to dinner, and go out again from three to four P. M. The Cingalese are an interesting and progressive people. Many of the men read and speak English. We have here Burghers (a mixture of Dutch and native) and Cingalese. Many of the Cingalese homes do not look like native homes, as they use furniture quite generally. But I have learned to recognize them, usually by a certain arrangement of the furniture. They seem to be more progressive than the people of India, with the exception of the Parsees. They are largely Buddhists.

Ceylon is a charming place. What I have seen of it calls to mind those lines,—

“What though the spicy breezes Blow soft o’er Ceylon’s isle; Though every prospect pleases, And only man is vile; In vain with lavish kindness The gifts of God are strewn; The heathen in his blindness, Bows down to wood and stone.”

The Lord has not only favored us with success in selling books and getting orders for the papers, but he has turned the hearts of strangers to show us unusual favors. We are both happy in the work, and thankful for a part in it. I do not mean that there are no shadows and trials, but out of even these the Lord brings blessings. We expect to go back up the west coast of India to Bangalore, and on to Bombay. If all goes well, we shall reach Bombay about the first of June, and canvass that city during the rainy season. It will not be difficult to canvass during the monsoons, as so many of the people live in blocks. One can find a morning’s work in some of those buildings. We are sadly in need of more canvassers. Some one ought to be canvassing at Bombay now. The subscriptions are running out, and we can not go there before June. I never before had such a love for the canvassing work. I would like to remain in it until the Lord comes. We have some most interesting experiences. ANNA ORR.