Christian missions in the Telugu country - Uecf.net

WORK AMONG WOMEN AND GIRLS 169
one of the schools, pass the primary, and be sent on to
Nandyal, he is almost certain to develop into a teacher.
That means a steady income, and much prestige to his
family. But there is no such prospect before girls, and
therefore there is little competition for places in the
boarding-school. When the girls come, it is commonly
at the late age of ten or eleven, and they have then to be
put into the lowest class just above the infants, as they
are from two to four years behind the boys.
On the other hand, after they come their progress is
unmistakable : nor is their progress only intellectual
the girls learn reverence in church, tidiness in their
habits, neatness in their dress, refinement in their
manners, and the effects of the school are seen in many
other ways. If, as often happens, the schoolgirl becomes
the wife of a teacher with superior intellectual and
social advantages, these results are seen very clearly,
for she becomes one of the elevating influences of the
new Ufe that has come with Christianity into the
village.
The Telugu Mission has not done much for the
education of Hindu girls. There have been so many
thousands of Christian women and girls that it was clear
the Church's first duty was towards them. And from
the lower point of view of results, more may be expected
for the expansion of Christianity from the education of
the Christians. StiU for a time an exception was
made in Kurnool, where a girls' day school was main-
tained for some years, at which the pupils were mostly
daughters of fairly weU-to-do Hindus. The education
given, judging by a pecuniary test, was valued, for the