Dr. Scudders Tales for Little Readers | Page 2

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
tayvun." The translation of this is, "The blind-eyed god." By this
expression, she meant to say, "What kind of a god are you, not to look
upon me, and help me in my distress?" If this little girl had had a
Christian father to teach her to love the Saviour, she would not have
used such bad language. But this father was even more wicked than his
daughter, inasmuch as those who grow old in sin, are worse than those
who have not sinned so long. I never saw a more hard-hearted parent.
That he was so, will appear from his conduct after the operation was

finished. He left his daughter, and went off to his home, about forty
miles distant. Before going, he said to his wife, or to one who came
with her, "If the child gets well, bring her home; if she dies, take her
away and bury her."
I hope, my dear children, that when you think of the wicked little girl
just mentioned, you will be warned never to speak bad words. God will
be very angry with you, if you do. Did you never read what is said in 2
Kings, 2d chapter and 23d verse, about the little children who mocked
the prophet Elijah, and spoke bad words to him. O, how sorry must
they have felt for their conduct, when they saw the paws of those great
bears lifted up to tear them in pieces, and which did tear them in pieces.
Besides all this, little children who speak bad words can never go to
heaven. God will cast them into the great fire. Have you ever spoken
bad words? If so, God is angry with you, and he will not forgive you
unless you are sorry that you have done so, and seek his forgiveness
through the blood of his dear Son.

CHAPTER II
.
THE COLOR AND ORNAMENTS OF THE HINDOOS.
My dear children--If you will take a piece of mahogany in your hands,
and view its different shades, you will have a pretty good
representation of the color of a large class of this heathen people--I say,
of a large class, for there is a great variety of colors. Some appear to be
almost of a bronze color. Some are quite black. It is difficult to account
for the different colors which we often see in the same family. For
instance, one child will be of the reddish hue to which I just referred;
another will be quite dark. When I was in Ceylon, two sisters of this
description joined my church. One was called Sevappe, or the red one;
the other was called Karappe, or the black one.
This people very much resemble the English and Americans in their
features. Many of them are very beautiful. This remark will apply
particularly to children, and more especially to the children of
Brahmins and others, who are delicately brought up. But however
beautiful any of this people may be, they try to make themselves appear
more so, by the ornaments which they wear. These ornaments are of

very different kinds, and are made of gold, silver, brass, precious stones,
or glass. All are fond of ear-rings. Sometimes four or five are worn in
each ear, consisting of solid gold, the lower one being the largest, and
the upper one the smallest. Some men wear a gold ornament attached to
the middle of the ear, in which a precious stone is inserted. Sometimes
they wear very large circular ear-rings, made of the wire of copper,
around which gold is twisted so as to cover every part of it. These are
frequently ornamented with precious stones. The females, in addition to
ear-rings, have an ornament which passes through the rim of the ear,
near the head, half of it being seen above the rim, and half of it below it.
An ornamental chain is sometimes attached to this, which goes some
distance back, when it is lost in the hair. They sometimes also wear a
jewel in the middle of the rim of the