Anna having repeated the answer to the question in course, Mrs. Dermott asked, "What are the gods of the heathen called?"
"O mamma!" cried Isabelle. "Ask father first; he is the oldest!"
The lady smilingly nodded assent, and Mr. Dermott replied, "I think it is the prophet Jeremiah who calls them idols and images."
"Of what, Walter, do the heathen make their idols?"
"Of wood and stone."
"That great one, we saw at the Mission House was made of gold," cried Helen, "and another was made of some old straw, stuck all over with elegant red feathers. Some of them were worn off, and I peeped inside. It was an ugly-looking thing."
"Here is an idol made of brass," added Mrs. Dermott, rising and taking from the mantel a small calf, about an inch in length. "Dreadful as it may seem, this little image has had a human sacrifice offered to it. This was afterward given up to the missionaries, who sent it to me. Probably this was made in imitation of the golden calf which the Israelites worshipped; the sight of which caused Moses such wrath that he threw down the tables of stone upon which the commandments were written, and broke them."
"Beside images of every imaginable shape and size," remarked the gentleman, "the poor deluded heathen worship many objects in nature, such as the sun and moon, very many kinds of animals—cows, dogs, crocodiles, and even mice. When I was in India, I saw the Hindoos engaged in offering sacrifices to the sun. Early in the morning, men, women, and children gathered together in an open field, carrying fruits, sweetmeats, pigeons, kids, &c. These were all set in a row, and a small pot of water placed by each person's offering, around the edge of which they wove a kind of wreath in imitation of the sun. They also had a small vessel of coals for incense, and a lamp, which was kept burning all day, by each sacrifice. At sunrise they walked four times around the whole row of offerings, with the smoking censers on their heads; after this they returned to their former station, where, I was informed, they stood erect all day, occasionally throwing a little incense into the fire, but without tasting food. About sunset, when I was told their ceremonies would be concluded, I returned. They again took their censers, and walked three times around the field. The pigeons were thrown into the air, and scrambled after for food, when each one threw his lamp away, and hastened home. This was merely a senseless and foolish idolatry. The next day one of the missionaries invited me to the hook swinging, in which the deluded Hindoos had iron hooks fastened into the flesh of their backs, and swung through the air, to appease the wrath of their gods. I had no heart to witness so cruel an exhibition. But no matter where I went, in every part of India there were idols of wood, stone, and clay; some ornamented with silver and gold, others in forms the most hideous and repulsive."
"How can they be so silly as to worship idols?" inquired the impulsive Helen. "I stuck a pin through that old feather god, and it could feel nothing; it only kept grinning with its two rows of ugly teeth; and I might have screamed in its ears all day, it could never have heard me."
The children smiled, but Mrs. Dermott said, gravely, "In contrast with these senseless images, which have eyes, ears, and hands, but can neither see, hear, nor dispense favors, how great and glorious appears the one living and true God, whose throne is in the heavens, but who is so condescending that he stoops to listen to the earnest prayer of the humblest child!"