Old Daniel | Page 3

him, and at a favourable opening in the conversation he
said to his relation, "The goddess Lakshmi has blessed you with wealth,
but she has left us in poverty; when she gives us prosperity we will
worship her, but not till then." Both Daniel's father and his visitor
looked at the boy angrily, but said nothing; however, in the end his
father decided not to fetch the idol.
The following is another proof of Daniel's decision; and it shows what

a clear view he had of idolatry before he ever heard a word of Gospel
truth. The account is given in his own words.
CHAPTER THREE.
SNAKE-WORSHIP.
When I was about eleven years old, my brothers and sisters were
suffering from boils, and my parents asked a fortune-teller what they
should do to get rid of them. He told my parents that the boils had come
in consequence of their neglect of serpent-worship, and that the
children would be cured if my parents would again worship snakes.
These reptiles often take up their abode in white-ant-hills, after the ants
have vacated them. My parents had been in the habit of worshipping
serpents two or three times a year. Their custom was to pour milk,
clarified butter, curds, etcetera, etcetera, into the holes of a
white-ant-hill, when they knew there was a venomous serpent inside.
The libations were accompanied by fastings, prayers, prostrations, and
many ceremonial purifications. And now to remove the boils from their
children they resolved to comply with the fortune-teller's directions,
and go through a grand performance of serpent-worship. They
accordingly consecrated two old stone idols, made in the shape of
serpents, and commenced the worship of them. I thought this was all
foolishness, and before the whole of the ceremonies could be
completed, watching my opportunity, I broke each snake-stone into two
or three pieces, and threw them away as common stones. When my
parents saw the broken images, and knew that it was I who had broken
them, they were exceedingly angry, and my father said, with fury, "Son!
is it proper to do so? Other gods may be false, but the Serpent-god is
not. The children are suffering from the anger of the Serpent-god, and
now you have broken his images, so that his wrath is increased; and
what calamity will happen to us it is impossible to say."
After my father was a little calm, I said to him, "Father, I believe that
this worshipping snakes and their stone images is all nonsense. What
connection can there be between boils on a human body and the image
of a serpent? Have patience; no calamity will happen. Should any

trouble come, we will then conclude that the serpent is a true god; and I
will, in that case, get two other images made, and putting them in the
place of the two broken ones, they shall be consecrated and receive
regular worship." My father thought I was a strange child. However, in
a few days, my brothers and sisters were quite well, and the belief of
my parents in snake-worship died away.
CHAPTER FOUR.
BIBLE IN THE CANARESE LANGUAGE.
Daniel, at that time, had no teacher but the Holy Spirit. There were no
Bibles in the Canarese language, which was the language spoken by
Daniel; there were no Protestant Missionaries where he lived; no
schools in which Hindoo children could be taught to read the Word of
God; and no means whatever for acquiring a correct knowledge of the
way to heaven. Had these means of salvation been in existence when
Daniel was a boy, he would have been taught to worship the true God,
and might have been instrumental in the conversion of many people.
But his youth was spent in ignorance and in the service of Satan. Thank
God, there is now a change for the better. There are Missionaries who
preach the Gospel in many parts of the Mysore country; there are
schools for children, and also for those converted young men who wish
to be taught how to preach the Gospel to their own countrymen. The
Scriptures are translated into the Canarese language, and may be had
everywhere at a very cheap rate indeed. A copy of the Canarese Bible,
printed at the Wesleyan Mission Press, in Bangalore, and beautifully
bound, was presented, with Bibles in other oriental languages, to His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, on his late visit to Madras. This is
a very different state of things from that which existed when Daniel
was a boy. But there is very much yet to be done. The Missionaries
have made a good beginning, but the work has to be completed; every
man, woman, and child has to be converted; and therefore the young
Missionary collectors all over England, have need