The little boy was left an orphan, but
not forlorn, nor friendless, for the Christian lady took care of him. He
was five years old, thin and delicate, and much fairer than most Hindoo
children. He had many winning ways; but he had a proud heart. He was
proud of his name, "Ramchunda," because it was the name of a great false
god: but when he had learned about the true God, he asked for a new name,
and was called "John." His wishing to change his name was a good sign:
and there were other good signs in this little orphan; and before he
died,--for he died soon,--he showed plainly that he had not a new _name_
only, but a new _nature_.
Little Phebe was another child received by a missionary's wife. She was
not an orphan, yet she was as much to be pitied as an orphan; for her
mother told the missionaries that if they did not take the child, she
would throw her to the jackals. It was a happy exchange for the infant to
leave so cruel a mother to be reared by a Christian lady, who, instead of
throwing her to jackals, brought her to Jesus.
She died when only five years old by an accident: when washing her hands
in the great tank she fell in, and was drowned.
But some Hindoo children, though carefully instructed, do not grow gentle
and loving, like John and Phebe.
The tents of some English soldiers were pitched in a lonely part of
India; and the night was dark, when an officer's lady thought she heard
the sound of a child crying.
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