My experiences in the London Missions Salem District, 1853-1918

CWML_MSS_227.pdf

"My experiences in L.M. Salem, 1852 -
1918, S.J.Simpson, Evangelist"

(Of no great importance except for dates)





—





MISSION CHURCH AT SALEM, MADRAS PRESIDENCY.



SCHOOL OF INDUSTRY


IN CONNEXION WITH




Clji Sulm HHissinn, (Bast Unities.
------------------




This Mission, which has been in existence for upwards of twenty years, is F-
situated in a district containing 1,200,000 inhabitants, superintended by one
European Missionary. Considering its inadequate agency, it has been greatly
blessed; more than five hundred souls have been led to embrace Christianity,
many of whom have removed to other places, or been called into eternity.
About three hundred are now receiving Christian instruction from nine devoted
teachers and schoolmasters; of these, twenty families are located at Salem, and
about as many in six villages of the district. The Mission comprises, in
addition, a Girls’ Boarding School of fifty children; a Boys’ Boarding School of
forty children; an Industrial School of nearly forty lads; and an English and
Tamil Day School of seventy Heathen children.
The School of Industry was established fourteen years ago, with a view
of securing further instruction for the Boys trained in the Boarding School,
and of providing them and other young converts with the means of obtaining
an honest and respectable livelihood; thus making them independent of the
Heathen, by whom they are cast out, and forming them gradually into a self-
supporting Missionary Church; giving them at the same time, such mental and
moral advantages as will qualify them, if truly converted, to become evangelists
to their Heathen countrymen and helpers to the Missionary.
The importance of such a School or Institution in India, will be fully
understood by those who are at all acquainted with the manners and habits of



3

that country; and especially with the condition of native inquirers and Christians.
That at Salem is now no longer an experiment; it has, under the blessing of
God, met with considerable success, as the following facts will show :—
In the year 1849, the School had made such progress that two of the
young men were employed as teachers in the Mission, one without any remu-
neration; twenty lads were instructed in the respective trades of cabinet making,
carpentry (including house-building), turning, and masonry. The Mission-
house, two School-houses, and several other buildings, were built chiefly by the
hands of these young converts; also, a Church [see engraving^ 70 feet long
by 46 wide, the first ever raised in India by Christian workmen, and at a cost
of only £330—being half the estimate of Heathen builders. There is, however,
a debt upon it still of £130, nor is it provided with any furniture yet.
By industry and the help of a few truly pious young men educated in it, the
School has gradually acquired a capital in buildings, tools, and materials, of
£600. It has twelve carpenters’ benches, three turning lathes, &c. For two
years it maintained an European Missionary artizan, Mr. Boesinqer, who
erected, to the great astonishment of the Indians, an English forge with
apparatus, a smelting furnace, &c.
The Institution has had to encounter great difficulties, occasioned both by
the Heathen and by ungodly Europeans, but it has stood its ground and has
become a great blessing in its missionary as well as its industrial character,
not only to the Salem district but also to other Mission stations. It now
contains nearly forty labourers (about ten having already left and set up in
business); and eight or ten families in the villages—among whom we observe
an interesting religious movement—are desirous of partaking of the European
skill of the School for their smelting furnaces, which are still in their primitive
simplicity, producing only 5 lbs. of iron at a time. From this School, two
similar ones have emanated, and are now in operation in Tinnevelly and
Cuddapah; and twelve lads from Coimbatoor, Santhapooram, and Nagercoil,
are under instruction in Salem, with a view of promoting industry at those
Missions also.



4

The Missionary having been obliged to visit Britain on account of ill health,
the superintendance of the Mission, particularly of the Industrial School, is
entrusted to Mr. Rahm, a German Missionary artizan, whom the London
Missionary Society has sent out and maintained now upwards of three years,
at a monthly allowance of less than £5. Mr. Boesinger has joined another
Mission, having been obliged to leave Salem. In his place, two Missionary
artizans are now required, as the School increases daily in extent and importance.
The Society being at present not in a position to render assistance in this matter,
the undersigned earnestly requests the friends of Missions to help him in pro-
curing £50, to enable two German mechanics to go out as steerage passengers,
and to be employed as general agents in the Mission, they requiring only such
allowance for their future support as the Industrial School can afford them.
Friends ‘who are disposed to help in this undertaking, or who have it in their
power to do something for the general purposes of the Salem Mission, will
be kind enough to forward their contributions to the undersighed, No. 44,
Princes Street, Rotherhithe; or to the London Missionary Society, Blomfield
Street, London.


J. M. LECHLER,



Rotherkithe,
itfi, September, 1854.



KELLY & PRITCHETT, PRINTERS, IIOUNDSDITCH.



V





J.


~7
<-C Jd~7 <-J
--X
KeCJuJurcT C^t J~
-f£ N Ua<7 j^tuJ^z-- f^c,. 4-
/Yw fCiiG .
1 t
C$~ Cx>---”^ix.o...f •■''■■ ,■
S(C CjP/^J ft \ og/l J r*
.. e5U_vb

Ch JcuZ
{t ? )











â– â– 



'L'V 'Ll

S>⁷









I





TK.






























i
















Jl



/










I I



/ '

/7
W-etzj^ W-#<- &L&, J. cZWW
7 c l^ii Caun-/i.-6-&i--£ (T^ 73ci VT-c^L 7^0 £7<^iJf /${,!. 71 USs ~yrL^yt tfY7'Ct
(it’w^Ls Q‘‘.7f~i'^ -'^Lct./j-^J /$i 1 3e /%'b 6
1jy- & . ■T^.cr'f'nti /% ^6~—■ /
W .& W1 â–  - W<>

JVo> ./ /6ofc /g~7o £—
/ r,- jt-
J 4
W3 - â–  â–  W$ â– 
K?.?-- ./^l
ivn - - Jtw
/ /^n~- - / 7 as~
/wf... /?/-£
C^-Ze^z
'/.& u w

717— V
Wy -—;W7-

LC

t

I (

it

Lf

I '

/

C7










L4

1'

(

/

f




















J£c„ eA^eZ '
^ â– k^ c^C' cSd/^-L.-tr-zy/^ . J C'L'i Lv C^^^CcyC-^-Cj^LJ (X'l'isC */4-*'t^>
CyLt/pLy-^ a





' z-Z>



























j

>jA"





i



(?t IslJ




I













(T. 71



















































\ ; â– â– ' & â– < > A-- VT