would be erected beside it for worship services. Excite ment filled his heart as he returned to the inmates and the “buildings.” Squatting Indian fashion, in the dust, or leaning sickly against the crude shelters, were close to one hun dred diseased human beings. They had lost their identity through hopelessness. As pity and love for them stirred within him, Tom prayed for Christ to bring into reality the vision of physical and spiritual blessing he had just received. Tom followed his personal conviction that “ faith means going forward with action.” He started by using a hand scythe on the uncooperative growth of grass. When a snake argued with him about who possessed the land, he neatly noosed his neck with a deft pull on a rope attached to the end of a stick. After a snake was noosed, it was clubbed, bagged and buried. If a Hindu was near enough to notice what was going on, Tom simply bagged the snake until the religious objector was gone, then finished the job later. Tom felt he couldn’t risk offending a potential Christian by being careless before him in his actions. The next phase of field work entailed a bony bul lock, with Tom on the business end of a hand plow. As he worked in what he hoped would eventually be a field, he asked no one to help him. The ragged patients, in various attitudes of lethargy, watched with mild inter est. They were hopeful that the young Sahib would stay with them because he was never too busy to take care of their personal needs. Tom stopped to pick dirt out of the eyes of a leprous Hindu who had lost the ability to blink. He gave them their shots regularly. Sanitation rules were to be followed closely. The young Sahib was very firm about this. Although his charges didn’t really see the need for such “ unnecessary” change of habits, they felt that Tom’s concern for their welfare was real. At night, some of the patients who were still awake, saw Tom quietly check all the sleeping ones to be sure that rats were not gnawing on the dead ened feet or hands of those who had lost their feeling through the advance of leprosy. Tom also treated burns on the feet of those who got a little too close to the fire. All of this made them love and respect their new Super visor; it even inspired some of them to help in the field, if their caste was not broken through this kind of co-operation. Even the old cesspool had been hurriedly fixed in a make-shift way. Every day the burdens of Kothara increased. Tom began to pray for help. The leprosy colony had improved, and what had been accomplished pleased his eyes, but Tom’s spirit was not satisfied. Only a few of the patients had joined in wor ship under the banyan tree each Sunday. He prayed while he worked, and for each one again as he checked them at night. Finally, the long hours of toil began to break Tom’s health, and malaria had its way with him. Tom was deeply disappointed to be ill at such a time. The fields would go back to the grass again. The newly cultivated ground had to be irrigated. He had found a few more cobras coiled in holes that were in the ancient well. They must be killed. It would be so much easier to dispose of them if there wasn’t a Brahmin tuber culosis victim among them. Killing any living thing was against their religion, even more than with the lower castes, who did not have so much to lose, if they made a slip here or there. None of the patients could be asked to get rid of even the most dangerous creatures as long as that Brahmin, Davidos, was with them. How Tom fretted, as he went from chills to fever. Tom’s illness was printed in the Sunday bulletins
and announced from pulpits in the churches that were affiliated with his work in the United States. Many Christians were deeply touched when they heard what hardships were facing their new missionary. The first answer to Tom’s prayer for help came in the form of a new tractor. Oh, the excitement on the compound when the new machine arrived! There was the anticipation of more to eat. Perhaps, one whose caste would permit it, could learn to control this won drous cart without a bullock. Tom continued to minister to the needs of the patients from his bed, whenever possible. He took the “medication that he knew would help him control the malaria, and was thankful for the extra knowledge he had picked up during his six years in three different colleges. As he found spare moments of time, he con tinued to pray that the Holy Spirit would make it clear to just one of the men that Christ was the only true God. He paused in his praying as a new hope became another prayer. “ Lord Jesus, will You give the Brah min called Davidos understanding concerning Your self? Give Davidos eternal life, for then the others would not be so afraid to learn about You.” Tom had presented his strong reasons to the Lord and felt at peace. The next morning he felt a little stronger, so he decided to inspect the grounds to see just what dete rioration had set in during his stay in bed. He took a whiff of the air. True, it still had the general scent of urine. All of India was permeated with that odor, but something else had been added. Tom walked as fast as he was able to the cesspool. Sure enough, it was stopped up and needed immediate attention. He called all of the men to him, then sat down on a convenient rock, to regain his strength as he tried to form a plan that might work. In the Marathi language, Tom ex plained that one man must be lowered into the cess pool by a rope. He would have a bucket which he would fill. Then he would be pulled up and the pail would be passed to each man in a line of approximately one hundred men until it reached the last person. The bucket would be emptied and would be returned man to man to be filled. In this way, the whole operation would not take very long. Tom looked at each man expectantly. He was rewarded with superstitious si lence. The Sahib Major was going too far this time. No one would risk the anger of the gods by breaking his caste. Even the untouchables would not put them selves in the hazardous position of coming back in the next life as an animal or an insect. Besides, the India custom of using the most convenient bush when neces sity demanded it, was much more simple than the for eign way. Tom, weak, but undaunted, picked up the bucket, and asked one of the men to lower him into the pit. Two hundred eyes watched, as Tom came up with the first bucket, took it away and emptied it. Perspir ing with weakness, he returned and went down into the hole the second time, then the third. Silently a miracle was taking place. Davidos, the man of Brahmin caste, released from the control of religious fear, by the new birth through faith in Christ, grasped a bucket. He walked with firm purpose to the cesspool. One by one, the leprosy patients followed him, feet wrapped in band ages, some of them missing fingers or toes, or parts of their faces. Christ had won a great victory. All those who joined the bucket line on the previous day were under the banyan tree on the day of worship. Tom’s heart was full of praise and gratitude for such answer to prayer. The men were now convinced that the God of Sahib Tom Major was a strong God, for the
DECEMBER, 1966
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