"I don't forget you, my dear M. How sweet a thought it is to know that Jesus never forgets His people–any of His people. Oh, if we were only wise enough to open wide all the doors and windows of our souls, that the sunshine might come in to cheer and gladden us! 'Rejoice evermore!' Let me hear soon, if you have a moment to spare."
"Srinagar, 28th Sept. 1867.–My dear Mrs. Thomson,–Your long and most interesting letter of the 14th June duly reached me and is now before me. Let me tell you, by way of a secret, that such goods always bring a high, very high, price in this out-of-the-way market. I heartily pity those missionaries who are not blessed with such letters! Speak a word, a quiet word, for the Punjaub to your young friends. There are several ploughs here, standing waiting for good, sturdy, loving, faithful hands to guide them. 'Come over and help us!' I am glad to hear you have taken up the poor female city Arabs. Pardon me for saying it–I think in some respects they are worse than the male ones. I am of opinion that, if there were no female Arabs, by and bye there would be no male Arabs. Get the females of a people put to rights, and the males will soon improve. There have been few good men who hadn't good mothers. If all this be true, you will naturally ask me, What about poor India, where woman is so degraded and unapproachable–what hope is there for her? Comparatively little, humanly speaking, I reply, so long as the women of India occupy their present condition. You have heard of female medical missions. I think they are likely, with the blessing of God, to help forward what zenana work has been effecting."
CHAPTER XIII.
VISIT TO CALCUTTA, AND WORK IN AMRITSAR.
It is time to set out on the march for Amritsar. Dr. Elmslie on this occasion travelled to the plains by the Baramula Pass. He was detained for some days at Dhanna, a little mountain village, on the journey, owing to the illness of a friend whom he overtook. While there he visited among the villagers, and enjoyed the comparative rest and leisure which he much needed after the hard work of the summer. Here he read Ruskin's "Ethics of the Dust." He always after associated that book with the grand mountain scenery by which he was surrounded, and with the sense of repose which followed that season of pressure. He writes to his mother:–
"October, 1867.–If you knew all that has befallen me during the past year,–the difficulties I have had to contend with in the prosecution of my work, my anxiety during the epidemic of cholera when I went daily to the city and spent hours among the sick and dying, you would say that from my heart there ought to flow a river of gratitude towards that gracious Father who has given me strength to bear up through it all. Without Christ one can do nothing, but with Him we can do all things. Scarcely a day passes without my seeing a reason for the manner in which God has trained me for His work. God is truly all wise in all His ways. I shall not give you special examples at present, but if spared to meet after a year or two, we shall compare our charts, and mark the goodness of our Heavenly Father to us in all the past.
"Ill that God blesses is our good,
And unblessed good is ill,
And all is right that seems most wrong
If it be His dear will."