Dr. Scudders Tales for Little Readers

Dr. Scudder's Tales for Little Readers, About the Heathen.

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About the Heathen., by Dr. John Scudder This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Dr. Scudder's Tales for Little Readers, About the Heathen.
Author: Dr. John Scudder
Release Date: September 27, 2004 [EBook #13539]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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DR. SCUDDER'S
TALES FOR LITTLE READERS,
ABOUT THE HEATHEN.

1849
The following work, so far as the Hindoos are concerned, is principally a compilation from the writings of Duff, Dubois, and others.
Should the eyes of any Christian father or mother rest upon it, I would ask them if they have not a son or a daughter to dedicate to the missionary work. The duty of devoting themselves to this work of Christ, or at least, of consecrating to it their money, their efforts, and their prayers, is the great duty to be perseveringly and prayerfully impressed on the minds of our children. A generation thus trained would, with aid from on high, soon effect the moral revolution of the world. Blessed will be that father, blessed will be that mother, who shall take any part in such a training. And I would add, too, blessed will be that pastor, and blessed will be that Sabbath-school teacher, who shall come up to their help.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I
.
General Remarks

CHAPTER II
.
The Color and Ornaments of the Hindoos

CHAPTER III
.
Dress, Houses, Eating, and Salutation of the Hindoos

CHAPTER IV
.
Marriage among the Hindoos

CHAPTER V
.
Death and Funerals among the Hindoos

CHAPTER VI
.
The Gods of the Hindoos

CHAPTER VII
.
The Three Hundred and Thirty Millions of the Gods of the Hindoos--The Creation of the Universe--The Transmigration of Souls--The different Hells

CHAPTER VIII
.
Hindoo Castes

CHAPTER IX
.
Hindoo Temples--Cars--Procession of Idols

CHAPTER X
.
Festivals of the Hindoos

CHAPTER XI
.
The worship of the Serpent

CHAPTER XII
.
The River Ganges

CHAPTER XIII
.
The Goddess Durga

CHAPTER XIV
.
The Goddess Karle

CHAPTER XV
.
Self-tortures of the Hindoos

Chapter XVI
.
The Suttee, or Burning of Widows

CHAPTER XVII
.
The revengeful Nature of the Hindoo Religion

CHAPTER XVIII
.
The Deception of the Hindoos

CHAPTER XIX
.
Superstition of the Hindoos

CHAPTER XX
.
Burmah, China, etc., etc.

CHAPTER XXI
.
The duty of Praying and Contributing for the Spread of the Gospel

CHAPTER XXII
.
Personal Labors among the Heathen

CHAPTER XXIII
.
Success of the Gospel in India and Ceylon

DR. SCUDDER'S
TALES FOR LITTLE READERS,
ABOUT THE HEATHEN.

CHAPTER I
.
GENERAL REMARKS
My dear children--When I was a little boy, my dear mother taught me, with the exception of the last line, the following prayer:
"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take; And this I ask for Jesus' sake."
Though I am now more than fifty years old, I often like to say this prayer before I go to sleep. Have you ever learned it, my dear children? If you have not, I hope that you will learn it _now_; and I hope, too, that when you say your other prayers at night, you will also say this. I think that you would be glad to see how this prayer looks in the Tamul language--the language in which I am now preaching the Gospel, and in which I hope that some of you will hereafter tell the heathen of the Saviour. The following is a translation of it:
[Illustration: The Lord's Prayer in Tamul]
I wish that all the little heathen children knew this prayer; but their fathers and mothers do not teach it to them. Their fathers and mothers teach them to pray to gods of gold, or brass, or stone. They take them, while they are very young, to their temples, and teach them to put up their hands before an idol, and say, "Swammie." Swammie means Lord. As idolatry is the root of all sin, these children, as you may suppose, in early life become very wicked. They disobey their parents, speak bad words, call ill names, swear, steal, and tell lies. They also throw themselves on the ground in anger, and in their rage they tear their hair, or throw dirt over their heads, and do many other wicked things.
Let me give you an instance, to show you how they will speak bad words. A few months ago, a little girl about twelve years of age was brought to me, with two tumors in her back. To cut them out, I had to make an incision about eight inches in length; and as one of these tumors had extended under the shoulder-blade she suffered much before the operation was finished. While I was operating she cried out, "I will pull out my eyes." "I will pull out my tongue." "Kurn kertta