u mission has been most blessed
by God. The famine of 1876 was followed by a wonderful revival, in
which a nation seemed to be born in a day. The people accepted Christ
by the thousands, and twenty-two hundred were at one time baptized.
Evangelization has been followed by education. While our organized
Telugu churches number 168, and our church-members 70,000, we have 819
schools of all grades, and 28,781 pupils under instruction. The needs
of the body have been cared for, as well as the needs of the soul, for
there are fourteen hospitals and dispensaries, ministering to 8,067
patients.

In such a mass movement as that among the Telugus, it was inevitable
that the organization of the converts into distinct, self-governing,
self-supporting, and self-propagating churches should be a gradual
process and should require time. The poverty of the people was an
obstacle to self-support. But Christian teaching has made them models of
liberality, and it was touching to see the church-members come forward
at the close of the Sunday morning service with their thank-offerings.
In fact, these Telugu churches, in the support of their native ministry,
are in large measure independent of foreign financial aid. It is certain
that, so long as religion is an exotic, its existence will be
precarious. The plant in the pot needs, for permanence, to become a tree
rooted in the soil. Self-government is as necessary as self-support, and
self-propagation is equally important, if the Christianity of the native
is ever to become indigenous. These aims have been dominant in recent
years, and we have been permitted to witness scenes which demonstrate
the power of God to make multitudes of people, of the lowest class,
intelligent, liberal, and aggressive Christians.

I must take four separate stations as illustrations of my thesis.
Fortunately, all of these stations are now under the administration of
Rochester men, whom I am proud to recognize as my former pupils. But
before I proceed to describe our experiences with them, I must to some
extent repeat what I have said in my last letter about Madras and the
conference there at the house of Doctor Ferguson. Because Madras is the
greatest city of South India, it is the natural source of supplies and
the easiest place of gathering for our Telugu missionaries, even though
most of them live and work much farther to the north. The principle of
home rule requires such gathering, and the missionary at Madras