Christian missions in the Telugu country - Uecf.net

METHODS OF WORK 99
from the forest by the congregation. The floor is of
mud, and both it and the walls are made hard and
smooth with a plaster of cow dung. The walls are
sometimes painted in parts for ornament, and one
end of the chapel is usually adorned with a painted
cross. The reading desk is an erection of stones set
in mud. After the baptism of the congregation the
altar will be made of the same materials. The outside
of the chapel is whitewashed and the houses of the
Christians are often whitened in the same manner.
As a consequence, the clean, tidy appearance of the
chapel and the Christian houses commonly strikes the
eye of the stranger approaching the village from a
considerable distance.
When the chapel and teacher's house have been put gj aiT""^
up, a teacher may be sent. Alas that so often, when all Indian
. Teacher
is ready, no teacher is obtainable ! Let us suppose, how-
ever, that in this case the Mission is able to send some one.
As the whole of the elevating influence that the Mission
can have upon these people from this time forward will
turn upon the teacher's work in his congregation and in
his school, it will be worth while to consider carefully
what the teacher will have to do.
The teacher will gather his people, old and young,
morning and evening for service. The service wiU be
Morning and Evening Prayer, very much shortened and
adapted to their understanding. Once a day, at least,
especially at Evening Prayer, he will give them in-
struction. At the end of the service, he wiU take a roll-
call of the congregation. He does not read every name,
but the name of every head of a family, whereupon