06 Trials and Triumphs
Chapter 6 TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS
(1894) The most definite impression of Miss Reed’s life and work among the lepers will be conveyed by quotations from her own letters. For the large number of these placed at my disposal by Mr. and Mrs. Wellesley C. Bailey, I beg to express my sincere thanks. In every instance where it is not otherwise indicated, the extracts from Miss Reed’s letters are from her correspondence with Mr. and Mrs. Bailey.
October 9th, 1893. "Blessed be the Lord because He hath heard the voice of my supplications. . . . My heart trusted in Him and I am helped ; therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth." - Psalms 28:6-7
"This is a Hindoo holiday, therefore a vacation in the half-dozen schools under my care, and the small army of men who have been working on the boundary-wall, as well as the fifteen or sixteen hay-makers, have taken ’a day off.’ As I need not therefore give my thoughts and attention to the work of the carpenters and coolies at work on the hospital and men’s barracks, I hope to be able to satisfy your longing about some of the things I imagine you are wanting to know. . . . Yes, I am more and more satisfied with knowing that each moment of suffering, both mental and physical allotted by the dear hand of God, is working out His will in and through this poor, frail instrument. I am comforted that not one unkind thing can be done or said but by His permission.My times are in His hand, whatever they may be.
" Two weeks ago I would have said, had I been writing you, that not one was left out of the fold, for to my joy, the last one of the seven unbaptized ones requested baptism, and upon questioning him, I found him much better prepared than I supposed he could have been in the few months’ teaching given him. But since that service, two weeks ago, four new patients have been admitted, and we now number fifty-seven - not a great number, but they require much care and prayer, much teaching, training, and nursing. But I am richly rewarded for all I can possibly do for them. In addition to my duties here in the Asylum, I now have six village schools, three Sunday schools, and six pupils in their homes in the village. I am to visit three of the schools every week and the homes every week. In order to reach all the schools, I must ride, walk, and climb steeps a total distance of forty miles, and superintend the teaching of two hundred boys and girls, as well as teach the teachers how to teach. I enjoy the work, though it is wearing in addition to all else I find to do."
December 11th, 1893. "Our numbers have not greatly increased this year, only eighty having been enrolled - fifteen of whom have gone away because I could not conscientiously give them leave to go and come at their own will, nor as often as they wished to visit their relatives. Their relatives visit them quite frequently, and it seems to me decidedly inadvisable to permit them to endanger their friends by remaining for weeks in their own homes. Seven have been baptized on profession of faith in Christ, whom they have learned to love. Of the fifty-nine now with us, all but six are Christians, and a goodly number of them give clear evidence of a deep experience of God’s saving and keeping power. Gentleness, patience, and peace, are now manifest in the lives of some who, one year ago, were unhappy and so quarrelsome that I was often called several times daily to settle differences. Individual care for each one, in addition to the power of the sweet Gospel, adds so much to the brightness and hope it brings into their lives. Human kindness and love seem to make them to realize so much more clearly our Father’s love, that my heart is often filled with inexpressible joy because of the tender mercy He has shown me in permitting me, in Jesus’ name, to minister to these my fellow-sufferers. He owns and blesses the lessons taught, and I have some precious meetings in which earnest prayers and intelligent testimony are given. Some have found their way to the Home of Many Mansions, six having died during the year. Truly this has been a year of lengthening of cords and strengthening of stakes of this beautiful retreat, and, during the coming year, I pray and hope that the two new buildings recently completed may be occupied by another fifty of the more than four hundred who are living within a radius of ten miles of us, and who ought to come and share the comforts and blessings so much appreciated by the patients now here. The village and school work I have in addition to my special work here, involves such a large amount of wear and tear that, sometimes, I am very weary, and now is one of those times when I feel worn and hurried. Pray for me that I may be the better fitted for all the duties and privileges that may come to me with the new year." On New Year’s Day, 1894, we have a glimpse of some of the external difficulties of Miss Reed’s work :
" The villagers are giving trouble about water, and I don’t wonder, for I myself think we ought to have a well instead of using water from a stream from which others must drink. There is no water on the premises here, but on the new land there is a good prospect for a good well just inside our wall. I need a wall round the garden and one around my fowl-house, as the jackals, porcupines, and other wild animals, destroy almost all the vegetables, and have carried off more fowls than I use, and I find it difficult to live without vegetables, eggs, and chickens." On April 4th we hear further as to the water supply :
"Now about that well. Since writing you I have made a discovery. Finding such a bed of rocks near the proposed site for the well, I feared to risk spending the amount needed to experiment in digging through to the fountain, which I am sure lies under this rocky surface, lest the money thus used be wasted. So I set out upon another search for water, and to my surprise found upon some waste land belonging to Government, a strong spring, within half a mile of our boundary wall. It lies in a deep ravine in an out-of-the-way place, hence my failure to find it before. It sends forth a good volume of excellent water, and by skillful engineering I think the water can be brought around the brow of the hill, conveying it through troughs and ditches into our own grounds. So this very week I am setting men to work to make the troughs and ditches. ... I am very busy getting ready to leave home this week to attend a great mela at Thall on the Ram-gunga, a river up among the mountains - two days’ journey from Shor. I hope to induce a goodly number of my fellow-sufferers to return home with me." The result of this visit, which was somewhat disappointing, is given in the next letter :
"For various reasons given by persons of whom I enquired, the mela was not attended by the great throng of worshipers who have been wont to resort to this noted place annually. A native official told me that not one-eighth of the usual number were present. I do not think there were more than 1,000 or 1,200 in all, and among that number I found but four patients who returned with us. My faithful servants made a thorough canvass of the crowds to satisfy my heart that none should be missed. Had we but found and brought in one I should have felt repaid for the journey. There are now just seventy patients in this beautiful retreat at Chandag." The following extract is from a letter dated August 18th:
"There are at present sixty-four patients in the Asylum, of whom thirty are men, twenty-five women, seven boys and two girls. Of this number forty-nine are Christians, and fifteen non-Christians. There have been but two baptisms this year. I do not urge or ask baptism ; when hearts are made new, and the light of the Son of Righteousness shines in they will ask for this rite. We hear from every direction that the many around us who ought to be here in the Asylum are not willing to come because of the Christian influence exercised. For this reason our numbers are not increasing as rapidly as I hoped they would. I want to spend much of my time in the district, going out to call them in as soon as the rains are over after the middle of September. May I request special prayers for these in the district, that their hearts may be turned to this Refuge, and that all who enter may find Christ as their Saviour. Pray that I may have wisdom, tact, and love according to my need as I go out to urge them to come in. I myself have some weary and most trying days physically now and again, though on the whole my health is a marvel to me. The good hand of the Lord is upon me, and it holds me still, and I trust, and am not afraid of what the future may bring. I am so thankful for the wonderful degree of good health He gives and for the blessed privilege I have of serving Him who is dearer to me than life."
Under date October 27th, Miss Reed speaks of some of the trials of her work :
" . . . experiences some of which would have been heartbreaking did not He uphold me, whose I am, and whom I serve. My flock has been the prey of Satan’s wiles, and some of my precious ones have followed his leading and gone out into lives of sin. My heart was so rent and torn and I was so weary - not of, but in the work, which taxes my strength physically - when the way was opened for me to go away for a month for rest and change on a visit with some of my dear old Missionary friends at Naini Tal.
. . I was absent from my post three weeks and a half, travelling over the mountains, camping in my cozy little tent. The visit did me a world of good. Since my return I find the work piled up, waiting for me, and I am busy from dawn to dusk, and my heart is heavily burdened for the souls committed to my care. Oh, please pray for them earnestly, that they may be made free from the bondage of sin." In a long and interesting letter dated November 3rd, 1894, Miss Reed writes :
" I began this letter before sunrise, and while sitting at my eastern window writing to you, the sun rose in splendor over the majestic mountains, lighting them up with a halo of glory. The magnificent views I have of the eternal snows and of the beautiful forest-clad heights are a never-ceasing delight to me. Pray for me, please, that my soul’s life may be strengthened by the lessons and thoughts suggested by these glorious works of God which lie about me. Did ever mortal woman need more the lessons and help to be found in communion with nature and nature’s God than this dweller on these heights here, for all around me are not only pain and sorrow, but what is a thousand times worse, sin." This letter contains an account of the moral lapses of some of her inmates which caused Miss Reed much sorrow, and led her to realize the need of more complete separation of the men from the women which has since been carried out. But the year closes with a note of praise for penitents restored. Thus, on December 15 th, we find a letter saying :
"One object I have in writing to-day is the joy of telling you that God is graciously answering my prayers and is pouring out His spirit upon my dear people once more. Humbled, repentant hearts are receiving forgiveness, and being melted into love, and the atmosphere of peace pervading the last meeting we had gave such sweet rest to my tired heart. The Angels, I know, have rejoiced over some of the wanderers who so grieved the dear Lord, but have now "come home" to Him (and to their mother-friend). Praise His name forever ! ! "